Ricketts Wants Trump-Pope Feud to De-Escalate
by John Gage
(Picture credit Matt Johnson)
U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts said he wanted the feud between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV to de-escalate following a series of public remarks and private reports that have raised tensions between the administration and the Vatican.
Ricketts's comments came after a TMZ reporter caught the senator on the way to his Capitol Hill office on Tuesday and asked him to choose a “side” between Trump and Leo. “If your mother and father were fighting, would you want to take a side or would you want to try to de-escalate?” Ricketts responded to the reporter.
The senator said that Trump and Leo held different roles and that appeared to be one of the sources of conflict between the two.
“The pope and the president have two very different jobs,” he said. “The president's job is to keep the people of the United States safe. The Pope's job is the spiritual welfare of the world. That's why I think you see a disagreement with regard to how they're approaching this conflict.”
TMZ announced this month that it would be expanding its news coverage to cover politics in D.C. Over the past couple of days, the news organization has been asking elected officials who are Catholic, including Ricketts, which side of the Trump-Pope “beef” they are taking.
The feud between Trump and Leo began after the pope criticized the war in Iran, saying “God does not bless any conflict.” Trump hit back at the pope, saying, “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States.”
On a call with Nebraska reporters on Wednesday, Ricketts responded to Trump posting and deleting an AI-generated picture depicting the president as Jesus. “There’s only one Jesus Christ who is the Savior of the world,” Ricketts said. “I’m glad the president took down the picture.”
Trump said he believed the picture was portraying him as a doctor.
John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.