How to win American souls and influence the Vatican

William Cash | 6th May 2025 | International, Washington
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Trump’s Catholic allies are exerting growing influence in Rome as a new conclave approaches. Backed by wealthy donors and political operatives, they are campaigning for a more traditional pope. Central figures include Brian Burch and Steve Cortes, who see Trump’s return as key to reshaping US–Vatican relations and global Catholic leadership.

William Cash reports from Rome on how Trump’s inner circle of Catholic leaders is trying to shape the future of the Church When President Trump and his Catholic First Lady attended the funeral of Pope Francis, it 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 Pope St John Paul II in 2005. Trump’s ‘Catholic’ predecessor, Joe Biden, did not attend the 2023 funeral of the ultra-conservative Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. This was mainly because Benedict was not pope at the time, and Biden had been advised by the US ambassador to the Holy See that the Vatican was ‘downplaying’ the funeral and that they did not really want the president there. In other words, it was all about papal politics. Trump was voted back into the White House by 59 per cent of America’s 60 million Catholics. Although there is no chance of the first American pope in history appearing on the balcony of St Peter’s after the upcomin...

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