A recent Pew Research Center poll reveals that 78% of American Catholics hold a favorable view of Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, despite President Donald Trump’s criticism of him.
The survey shows this support has slightly declined from last month’s figure of 84%.
When asked about Pope Leo’s stance on the Trump administration, Catholics were split: 19% believe he has been too critical of the president, while 16% feel he hasn’t gone far enough. Additionally, 35% stated Pope Leo is striking the right balance in his criticisms, and 30% indicated they are unsure, have no opinion, or have never heard of him.
The poll also found that 51% of Catholics believe Trump has been too critical of the pope, while 4% think he hasn’t been critical enough, with 14% stating that Trump is striking the right balance.
Pope Leo’s criticism of U.S.-Iran relations has drawn sharp rebukes from President Trump. In a May statement, Trump said: “Well, the Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good. I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it’s up to the Pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump has labeled Pope Leo “weak” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy, accusing him of “catering to the radical left.”
In response, Pope Leo emphasized his longstanding opposition to nuclear weapons: “I simply hope to be listened to because of the value of the word of God.”
The pope has consistently called for peace and dialogue and denounced the use of religious justification for war. In April, he described Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization as “truly unacceptable.”
The poll found that most Catholics across partisan lines hold positive views of Pope Leo. However, Catholic Democrats and independents who lean Democratic express somewhat higher levels of approval than Catholic Republicans. Approximately 32% of Catholic Republicans said Trump has been critical of Pope Leo, with 39% stating he has been too critical of Trump. In contrast, 70% of Democrats said Trump is being too critical of the pope, and only 3% said the pope has been too critical.
The survey was conducted among 1,848 U.S. Catholics from May 26 to June 1 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
Sam Barron, who has covered politics, crime, and business for nearly two decades, conducted this analysis.
