United States Regime Turns Its Back on Catholics

Saoirse Éireann Ní Bhaoighealláin

“Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.” 

– Isaiah 1:15

On Friday morning, an email was sent out to Pentagon employees stating “Just a friendly reminder: There will be a Protestant Service (No Catholic Mass) for Good Friday today at the Pentagon Chapel,” this is the latest in a series of events targeting Catholics by the American regime. Similarly, Israel tried to block Catholic services in Palestine this Friday which only ended when Pope Leo called Benjamin Netanyahu for both of these events Trump supporting Catholics have tried to claim “there is no mass on Good Friday” this half truth comes from the fact the Eucharist is not celebrated on Good Friday but there are still services nonetheless.

Pope Leo XIV on Palm Sunday sharply condemned war and the use of religion to justify violence, saying during Mass in St. Peter’s Square that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” This came in clear rejection of Pete Hegseth who at the first service for Pentagon workers after the onset of war with Iran prayed  “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” he continued “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

This comes as little surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the United States religious policies for decades well before the current regime. The US has backed Evangelical and Pentecostal movements in Latin America since the 1970s out of fear of the growth of Liberation Theology within the region. This has been largely ignored by Catholic politicians in the United States who saw these developments as necessary to stop socialism within Latin America. Evangelical and Pentecostal movements in the United States have long seen Catholicism as non Christian but also saw aligned interests for establishing republican domination over the United States and particularly for criminalising abortion

Now we have seen Roe V Wade overturned and the most right wing government we’ve ever seen in the United States it appears that those aligned interests no longer matter as much as they did to Protestants. Protestants are seeing what they view as the Catholic Church being increasingly Liberal starting with Pope Francis, with an American pope being announced state officials likely hoped it would mean a strengthening relationship with the Vatican but Pope Leo has proven he will not be friendly with those who commit war.

To the dismay of the republican TradCaths, Catholics laity in the United States are considered more liberal than most Christians and have historically aligned with the democrats. Since 2025, ICE has started perpetrating raids on Catholic Churches with 33% of Catholics being Latino this is likely to become increasingly more common. Previously we’ve seen clergy being denied access to ICE detention centres for Liturgy, a right that is granted to prisoners but was being denied to immigrants. 

People will of course remember back in May 2025 when Pope Leo the first American pope was elected and people found a response to J.D. Vance on Twitter telling Vance he was wrong on faith and migration. This saw the beginning of a breakdown in relations between the Vatican and Washington relations particularly in reference to the treatment of migrants. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops even issued a condemnation of US immigration policy calling for meaningful immigration reform.

This should all serve as a reminder to US Catholics particularly those who still view the current regime positively of a poetic form by the German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me, and there was no one left, to speak out for me