New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said President Donald Trump’s praise for newly elected Pope Leo XIV is a sign he’s trying to tamp down his constant brawling.
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday, Haberman said Trump’s warm compliments for the new pope in a Truth Social post – where he said it was “a Great Honor for our Country” to have the first American pope, who he said he looks forward to meeting – was a shift in his previous tone toward the Vatican.
“I think that Trump is trying not to be in conflict with everyone as much as he was before,” Haberman said, noting the MAGA leader’s feud with Pope Francis dating back to the 2016 election.
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“He has been much more respectful of the papacy, certainly since he went after the…previous pope, Pope Francis, for criticisms of Donald Trump,” Haberman, a long-time political reporter, said Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
She added: “This is a pope who, at least on his Twitter feed, appeared to have been an incoming pope critical at least of JD Vance and some of this administration’s policies.”
The remarks came after Trump took heat from Catholic leaders over the weekend after he posted an AI-rendered photo of himself as the pope just as the Congregation of Cardinals began deliberations.
