The Pope vs Trump: Is the Vatican becoming a new super-power ?

William Cash | 31st March 2026 | Comment, Magazine
Pope Leo XIV (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)
Pope Leo XIV (Photo by Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

With a new American pope, William Cash investigates the global power dynamics behind the throne of St Peter.

That Cardinal Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem and head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land was blocked by Israeli police from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Mass on Palm Sunday (29th March) provoked widespread international condemnation.

What’s worth noting about the political incident, creating headlines around the world, is that Pope Leo did not wade in personally to make any political press statement. As pontiff, and the first American head of a sovereign state that is increasingly acting like a new Vatican super-power, Leo prefers to operate behind the scenes in the Middle East conflict rather than weaponising the Office of the Holy See as his predecessor did on subjects like US immigration and climate change.

The news was relayed through Vatican News, the official news channel of Vatican City suggesting that high level state diplomacy is back on the agenda at the Vatican under Pope Leo.

In America, ever since President Trump and his Catholic First Lady returned to the White House, there has been clear evidence that religion has returned to the front trenches of US politics. WhenTrump and his wife Melania flew to Rome last April for the funeral of Pope Francis, it sent a signal that religion was back on the political agenda. The last US president to attend a papal funeral had been George W Bush for John Paul II in 2005 – now raised to the …

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