William Cash reports from Rome on how American conservative Catholics are trying to win souls and influence the Vatican A rumour is circulating in the Italian press that although there is little chance of an American pope, there is a good chance that if Italy’s Cardinal Parolin—Francis’s Secretary of State—is elected, we may, for the first time, see an American Cardinal appointed as Secretary of State. I have no idea who this might be, but members of Trump’s Catholic circle will be praying over the next 78 hours that it could be the charismatic Cardinal Dolan of New York. He has been acting as a bridge-builder in Rome over the past week, bringing under his wing inexperienced rookie Cardinals—say, from Africa, who hold 18 votes—and educating them in the complex arts of Conclave voting. On the other hand, a more likely candidate may be 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who has served as head of the Vatican’s ultra-powerful Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis for the past two years. That made him the man who advised Francis on global episcopal appointments which, as John Allen Jr wrote in Crux, is a “great way to make friends in the Catholic hierarchy”. Whether we see an American Secretary of State for the first time or not, the fact that President Trump and his Catholic First Lady attended the funeral of Pope Francis signalled how religion has returned to the forefront of US politics. The last US president to attend a papal funeral was George W Bush for John Paul II in 2005—now St John Paul. Trump’s ‘Catholic’ predecessor Joe Biden did not attend the 2023 funeral of the ultra-conservative Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This was largely because he was no longer pope and had been advised by the US ambassador to the Holy See that the Vatican was “downplaying” the funeral and did not want the President present. In other words, it was all about papal politics. Trump was returned to the White House by 59 per cent of America’s 60 million Catholics. Whilst there is little chance of the first American pope in history appearing on the balcony of St Peter’s after the upcoming Conclave—which begins on 7 May at 4.30pm in the Sistine Chapel with a single vote on the first day—America’s influence on the Church cannot be ignored. Its warring factions have made the USA a spiritual battleground over the Church’s future. This was made clear to me by Steve Cortes, a senior political adviser to Trump, JD Vance and Brian Burch—Trump’s nominee for the next US ambassador to the Holy See—who was in Rome during the Novemdiales, the nine-day official mourning period for a pope. Cortes and Burch, president of the advocacy group CatholicVote, were key players in returning Trump to the White House. Cortes is at the heart of Trump’s Catholic advisory circle and is regarded as America’s top Catholic voting strategist. Speaking about the political significance of Burch’s confirmation and its implications for future US–Vatican relations—regardless of the new pope—Cortes told me: “Both America and the Church have profound missions in the world. The US is the most powerful political entity on earth, and the Catholic Church is the most significant spiritual institution. As such, there is cause for real optimism about a closer alliance with the transition to a new pope as Trump begins his new term in office.” The last week in Rome has been a papal political hustings, with cardinals from all Church factions meeting over meals in trattorias in the Borgo Pio district or holding secret meetings in Vatican apartments—such as the top-floor flat where Cardinal Müller lives, once occupied by Cardinal Ratzinger before his election as Benedict XVI—in efforts to form alliances based on language or continent. These include the 18 ‘red hat’ votes belonging to African cardinals or the 12 Portuguese-speaking cardinals. If a black papabile like Cardinal Sarah emerges as a leading contender after the first vote, it will be due to African cardinals voting as a bloc. With little chance of an American pope—and a College of Cardinals heavily stacked by Francis to ensure his legacy survives—a faction of American Catholics close to Trump, led by Burch, Cortes and Tim Busch (founder of the Napa Institute), have been laying groundwork for years in the hope that the next pope will be a more unifying, conservative pastoral figure who can end the bitter spiritual civil war that, as The New York Times once put it, is “tearing the Catholic Church apart in America”. Michael La Civita—brother of Chris La Civita, Trump’s 2024 campaign manager—is among those hoping the election of a new pope will help rebuild bridges. A respected US Catholic leader, La Civita travels to Rome each year for America Week as a senior director of CNEWA, the papal humanitarian charity for the Middle East, founded in 1926 by British Monsignor Richard Barry-Doyle, a relative of Arthur Conan Doyle. La Civita believes 60-year-old Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem—w...