The Media Research Center gave a pass to President Trump for posting an image that likened him to Jesus — and it followed that by giving him a pass for fighting with the pope. Alex Christy huffed in an April 15 post:
For CNN This Morning guest host Erica Hill, the Trump administration’s argument with Pope Leo over the Iran War provided her an opportunity to hype the idea that true religion is liberal and the “moral courage” the country needs. To help her make that point, Hill brought on Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde—best known for turning the Inaugural Prayer Service into Liberal Culture War Hour—and hyped Sen. Raphael Warnock suggesting that pleas that Leo not confuse his political opinions with God’s are “how fascists talk.”
Hill wondered, “Could this actually be helping in this moment to elevate the pope’s message? Because it is prompting more of a discussion about what the pope is, in fact, talking about?”
[…]Popes simply do not endorse military action anymore. Even Pope Francis got himself in trouble several times with the Ukrainians, who are fighting a purely defensive war, if ever there was one. If CNN wants to make an argument against the war, it is going to need to do better than appealing to a pacifist.
[…]If Leo is speaking truth to power to Trump on Iran, will he be speaking truth to power to them when this war ends and the news cycle shifts back to something else or will they all of a sudden claim the subject is too nuanced for papal commentary? Certainly not, but that won’t stop them from currently using Leo to score points against Trump.
Why is Christy suggesting that the pope’s views change depending on who is president? He doesn’t say.
The same day, Jorge Bonilla similarly ran to Trump’s defense:
The Elitist Media continue to treat the exchanges between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV as an opportunity to try to drive Catholics from the President’s coalition ahead of the midterms. And absolutely no one is more ham-handed about it than ABC News.
Watch Rachel Scott’s report rehashing the controversy, with a sprinkling of Vice President JD Vance’s remarks at a Turning Point USA Event in Georgia, as aired on ABC’s World News Tonight on Wednesday, April 15th, 2026[:] […]
ABC is doing everything in their power to keep this beef alive and going. And they stand alone in doing so as CBS and ABC have already moved on.Their putting all this effort into pretending to care what Catholics think about the issues of the day is almost cute to watch- in a “bless your heart” sort of way.
[…]And yet the question remains: when did ABC ever care about what Catholics think? The answer is that they really don’t outside of whatever The Narrative™ might be on any given day. The Pope is getting all this run because he’s expressed opposition to the Iran operation and has spoken out against immigration enforcement- both positions contrary to policy put forth by the Trump administration. But you never saw this same concern when the Obama Administration sued the Little Sisters of the Poor in order to force them to pay for abortifacients, when Kamala Harris persecuted David Daleiden for exposing Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby parts, or when the Biden Administration locked pro-lifers up under the FACE Act.
Likewise, you never hear the media covering Democrat criticisms of the Pope when he speaks out against abortion or same-sex marriage or the ordination of women. The Elitist Media recoil at those expressions of faith.
This report was little more than ABC doing a long-form version of the meme with the smug liberal saying, “No I’m not a Christian and I have nothing but contempt for your backward religious beliefs so yeah, this argument wouldn’t work on me but maybe if I use it on you, you’ll do what I want.” These fake appeals to authority ring hollow and persuade no one.
Since when does Bonilla care about what Catholics think, especially when it conflicts with Trump?
Christy returned for an April 16 post lashing out at selective papal critics and going into comedy-cop mode:
After Vice President JD Vance criticized Pope Leo’s recent Iran War comments as being a possible departure from traditionally understood ideas around just war theory, CBS’s host of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert, responded on Wednesday by telling Vance to “sit down” because he has been a Catholic since the 60s while Vance only converted in 2019. Colbert then went to a commercial, and when he returned, he joined with actress and comedian Rachel Dratch to promote abortion. Meanwhile, over at Comedy Central, The Daily Show host-of-the-week Ronny Chieng also invoked abortion to suggest Vance and others were being hypocritical in their pope criticisms.
[…]The missing context is Leo saying that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage wars and does not endorse military action and Vance countering that there is such a thing as a just war and that God would choose the sides in such a war and citing World War II as an example.
Christy continued to pretend to be more Catholic than the pope:
Over on Comedy Central, Chieng at least played the part of Vance’s TPUSA event where he talked about Just War Theory and the historical example of fighting the Nazis, but still didn’t get it. Sarcastically chiding the audience for booing, “Shut up! Shut up. Shut up. He’s right. Be careful when you talk about theology, pope.”
Dropping the sarcasm, Chieng continued, “Let me just remind you guys that what the pope basically said was, ‘War is bad.’ That’s not controversial, alight. It’s literally the pope’s job to say things like that. That’s like if Miss America wished for world peace, and JD Vance burst on stage like, ‘Oh, yeah, even with Hitler? Stay in your lane, bitch!’”
Chieng can mock the idea all he wants, but it is a legitimate question to ask if someone who wishes for world peace would still say that when Hitler invaded Poland.
Is it, though? Christy hopes you agree with him.