In 2015, just a couple of months after launching his Republican presidential campaign, then-television personality Donald Trump decided to do something rather provocative: He publicly took aim at Pope Francis.

The pontiff, the GOP candidate complained at the time, was “very political” and failed to recognize what Trump said was the distinct possibility of ISIS terrorists invading the Vatican. Months later, the future American president added, “I don’t think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico.”

After Francis denounced the idea of a border wall dividing the United States and Mexico, Trump upped the ante in February 2016, calling the pope’s comments “disgraceful” and suggesting he was “a pawn” of the Mexican government.

A decade later, the Republican decided to go even further in an offensive against Francis’ successor, Pope Leo XIV.

In a 330-word tirade published on Sunday night to his social media platform, Trump wrote, among other things:

Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. … I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! … Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!

As part of the same online rant, Trump meandered through a series of odd grievances, touching on Covid-era restrictions, Iran’s nuclear program, the recent U.S. offensive in Venezuela, how impressed he is with the 2024 election results, the stock market and how annoyed he is that the pope “meets with Obama Sympathizers.”

In case that wasn’t quite enough, Trump — who, last May, thought it’d be amusing to push the idea that he should be chosen as the next pope — took credit for Leo’s ascension. “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump,” he wrote, making up a Vatican motivation that never existed in reality.

Soon after, during a brief Q&A with reporters, Trump was asked why he “attacked” the pope. Instead of challenging the premise, the Republican replied, “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess. … I am not a fan of Pope Leo.”

To be sure, none of this was too surprising. Leo, for example, recently chastised those who invoke God as supportive of military might, saying in a homily on Palm Sunday, “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

More recently, after Trump issued a genocidal public threat, saying he was prepared to kill “a whole civilization,” the pope seemed to suggest that Americans should contact members of Congress as part of a political pushback campaign.

The question was less about whether Team Trump, which has spent months clashing with the faith community, and more about how. We now have an answer.

On Monday morning, the church’s first-ever American pope told The Associated Press aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria, “I have no fear of the Trump administration.”

Asked directly about Trump’s comments published on a platform called Truth Social, Leo added, “It’s ironic — the name of the site itself. Say no more.”

Ouch.

For good measure, this back-and-forth was not the Republican’s only message related to religion.

On Sunday night, Trump apparently thought it’d also be a good idea to promote an image that appeared to present him as some kind of American Jesus.

“There is behavior that’s so self-evidently deranged that merely seeing it should lead to fury and disgust,” The New York Times’ David French wrote in response. “I’m concerned, however, that some evangelicals are so influenced by Trump that they won’t unite with their Catholic brothers and sisters in response to Trump’s blasphemy and intolerable attacks on the pope, but will instead turn against them.”

There’s been some speculation of late about whether the president’s approval rating could dip much lower, or whether he’s effectively reached a political floor. After Trump’s bonkers faith-based offensive, we will soon find out.

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