{"id":25927,"date":"2026-04-14T06:59:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/25927\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T06:59:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:59:17","slug":"local-catholic-leader-speaks-out-after-president-trumps-criticism-of-pope-leo-xiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/25927\/","title":{"rendered":"Local Catholic leader speaks out after President Trump\u2019s criticism of Pope Leo XIV"},"content":{"rendered":"

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A local Archbishop is speaking out after President Donald Trump\u2019s recent comment toward Pope Leo XIV.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, April 12, President Trump criticized the Pope for his opposition to the war in Iran. The president was also depicted as a saint-like healer in a photo that has since been deleted online, saying that he thought the image was of him as a doctor.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"PresidentPresident Donald Trump waves to reporters as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival at the White House, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Washington.(Jose Luis Magana | AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana)<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Pope Leo told reporters that he doesn\u2019t fear the Trump administration, and that the Vatican\u2019s appeals for peace are rooted in the Gospel. <\/p>\n

\"LacopaLacopa said Pope Leo faces complicated expectations because he is both an American and, in Catholic terms, \u201cthe pastor of the world.\u201d(WNDU)<\/p>\n

Archbishop Shawn McKnight of the Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas made a statement on social media<\/a> following the president\u2019s comments, urging unity and calling for civil leadership. McKnight emphasized the need for peace and honoring the dignity of human life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am deeply troubled by the recent exchange between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV regarding the pope\u2019s call to end the war in Iran.<\/p>\n

The Holy Father is fulfilling his moral duty, as a pastor and not a politician, to promote peace in the world. The retaliatory tone of the President\u2019s response risks deepening division when we need unity. Even in heated disagreement, leadership should be civil, honoring the inherent dignity of the other made in the image and likeness of God.<\/p>\n

I invite all to pray that Pope Leo\u2019s vision of peace is made manifest, and all sides charged with the responsibility to govern will find a way to lay down arms, respecting the dignity of human life by working for the common good and promoting human rights. <\/p>\n

May the Prince of Peace rule in our hearts. Amen.”<\/p>\n

McKnight was installed as the fifth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas on May 27, 2025.<\/a> He is on multiple national boards and has been a religious leader for decades.<\/p>\n

\"ChurchChurch dignitaries and Catholic leaders assembled in Kansas City to ring in the Mass of Installation for the metro\u2019s new Archbishop.(Jay Soldner | Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas)<\/p>\n

KCTV has also reached out to the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for comment and is awaiting their response.<\/p>\n

MORE DETAILS: Trump says he won\u2019t apologize to Pope Leo and explains his reason for posting much-criticized meme<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCTV. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – A local Archbishop is speaking out after President Donald Trump\u2019s recent comment toward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5255,17755,17754,17753,509,50,17752,10,65,11,64,17751],"class_list":{"0":"post-25927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-trump","8":"tag-catholic","9":"tag-city","10":"tag-kansas","11":"tag-kctv","12":"tag-leader","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-out","15":"tag-potus","16":"tag-president-donald-trump","17":"tag-president-of-the-united-states","18":"tag-president-trump","19":"tag-speaks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116401770662556154","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}