New polling from the Pew Research Center has found that a majority of Catholics in the United States believe that their president has been too critical of the first American pontiff, Pope Leo XIV.
It also showed that while the pope’s approval rating remains high among Catholics, it has fallen since summer 2025.
When asked about Donald Trump’s approach to Pope Leo, 51% of American Catholics responded that the US president has been “too critical” of him, compared to just 4% who said that he had not been critical enough. Those who thought that Trump was striking the right balance in his approach to the pope came in at 14%.
Around 30% said that they were not sure, did not have an opinion or had never heard of Pope Leo.
Meanwhile, when asked about Pope Leo’s approach to President Trump, Catholics were more divided. While 19% said that Leo had been too critical of the president and his administration, 16% said that he had not been critical enough.
A larger 35% said that the pope was striking the right balance in his approach to the Trump administration, while 30% were not sure, did not have an answer or, again, had never heard of Pope Leo.
Trump’s Political Vision Clashes With the Pope’s
The questions come following clashes earlier this year between Pope Leo and President Trump and his administration, primarily over the issues of the Iran war and immigration management.
The head of the Catholic Church previously described the Trump administration’s handling of immigration as “extremely disrespectful” to migrants who had been living “good lives” in the US, in some cases for decades, despite being in the country illegally.
"If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that”, the pope said on that occasion, commenting on the US bishops’ pastoral letter on the topic, adding "there are courts. There's a system of justice”.
At the same time, Pope Leo has been critical of the president’s war in Iran, with his anti-war pronouncements becoming stronger and more frequent as the American-Israeli air campaign unfolded.
In March, Pope Leo said that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them”, before quoting from the Book of Isaiah: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”
In response to these statements, President Trump lashed out at the pope, describing him in one Truth Social post as being “weak on crime” and “catering to the radical left”.
“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church”, the US president said in the lengthy post, uploaded in April.
Trump also targeted Leo’s criticisms of war, saying that he did not want a pope “who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon”.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country”, Trump said.
The polling found that approximately eight in 10 Catholics (78%) in the US have a favorable view of Pope Leo, despite a slight downturn since summer 2025, when the American pontiff enjoyed an 84% approval rating among US Catholics.
Catholics who attended Mass at least once a week expressed the most fondness for Pope Leo (85%), compared with those who attended once or twice a month or a few times a year (79%). Meanwhile, 73% of Catholics who rarely or never attend Mass said they had a favorable opinion of Pope Leo.
Catholic Political Camps Split Over Pope Leo
While the pope enjoyed bipartisan support among Catholics, Pew’s research found that Catholic Democrats and independents who “lean toward the Democratic Party” had a more favorable view of Pope Leo than Catholic Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
The research center said that it observed a similar pattern during the latter years of Pope Francis’s pontificate.
The survey results showed that a higher proportion of Catholic Democrats believed Trump had been too critical of the pope than felt that Leo XIV had been too critical of Trump (70% vs. 3%).
Catholic Republicans were more divided on the matter, with approximately one third (32%) saying that Trump had been too critical of the pope, compared with 39% who thought that Leo had been too critical of the president.
