Donald Trump took to his social media account on Thursday to congratulate Robert Francis Prevost after his election as pope, marking the first time in history an American will lead the Roman Catholic Church.
Prevost, 69, of Chicago holds both American and Peruvian citizenship. He will be known as Pope Leo XIV. He was elected on the second day of the Conclave as a successor to Pope Francis who died on April 21 at age 88.
“It is such an honor to realize that he is the first American Pope,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.“What excitement, and what a Great Honor for our Country.”
“I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!” he added.
Prevost has shared several posts on social media criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Last month, Prevost retweeted a post asking if the administration “see the suffering” caused by their policies.
“As Trump & Bukele use Oval to [laughing emoji] Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?”
“There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages,” another post he retweeted read. “This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.”
Provost also shared an op-ed from the National Catholic Reporter titled: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” following comments the vice president made in a Fox News interview.
In 2015, Prevost quoted Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, from a Washington Post article, posting on his X account at the time: “Cardinal Dolan: Why Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is so problematic.”
MAGA supporters are not happy with the new Pope.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer wrote on X, “The new Pope @drprevost supports illegal aliens and open borders. He retweeted tweets in support of ‘dreamers’ aka illegals and attacked President Trump’s use of the phrase “bad hombres” to describe violent illegal aliens. He thinks it’s a ‘racist’ phrase.”
