LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (WKBW) — President Trump's recent social media attacks against Pope Leo are sparking strong reactions from local Catholics. Trump criticized the pope online after the pontiff called for peace.
The Catholics I spoke with on Monday tell me they're upset with President Trump's comments toward Pope Leo and they are defending the pope's effort to seek peace.
I talked with a few people outside Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, who support the Pope.
"Our only motive is to follow Jesus, and he is peace in and of himself," Valerie Devany, a Lackawanna resident, said.
Valerie Devany of Lackawanna and Bob Peterson of Hamburg were both leaving daily Mass at OLV.
"I don't know what's going on with him. He's not looking too good," Peterson said.
"I believe he is spreading the gospel message. We must pray for peace," Devany said.
The president also posted an AI image of himself as Jesus, but he later removed it.
"I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor and had to do with the Red Cross. There's a Red Cross worker there," Trump told reporters Monday.
"It seems like the president's going off the rails a little bit ... last week, he was, you know, praising Allah. Now he's, you know, talking against the Pope," Peterson said.
WATCH: WNY Catholics react to Trump's social media attacks on Pope Leo
I asked Peterson how he, as a Catholic, felt about the AI photo.
"Yeah, it looks a little sacrilegious. You know? I mean, he's not, last I heard, he's not the son of God. So not looking too good," Peterson said.
Retired Buffalo priest and Chaplain for the Buffalo Fire Department, Father Paul D. Seil, tells me this is not about politics, but about violence and oppression.
"I think when someone depicts themselves as Jesus Christ, you know, you've got to question a number of things about their motives and their mental stability," Father Seil said.
"The Pope is not talking about politics. He's talking about compassion, openness, care for those who are less fortunate, downtrodden," Father Seil said. "This isn't even just Christian or Jewish or Buddhist or Islamic. This is like people of goodwill. This is humanist. This is atheists.”
Buffalo Bishop Michael Fisher released a statement also supporting the Holy Father, saying the Pope is right to use the gospel to call for an end to the war. The bishop says this is about humanity instead of politics.
“The Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, rightly invokes the Gospel of Jesus Christ in calling for an end to the war with Iran and the suffering it has inflicted on so many innocent civilians—children, the elderly, and the most vulnerable—while perpetuating hatred and
division that only serve to fuel generational conflict. With Pope Leo, I urge all who have the ability to bring about peace to come together and make it so. This is not about politics but the very cause of humanity and our obligation to seek understanding,
reconciliation, and pursue those mutual interests that bind us to one another, regardless of ethnic, racial or geographic divisions.”
—Bishop Michael W. Fisher
In the meantime, U.S. Catholic leaders across the country say more people have been joining the church since Pope Leo was elected as the first American Pope.
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