“Pope Leo Is a Tool of Our Enemies”: Homan Leads MAGA Attacks as Hayworth, Others Pile On
It’s the latest MAGA attack on Pope Leo’s pro-immigrant stance. Disgraced border chief Tom Homan — caught taking a $50,000 bribe in a Cava takeout bag — led the charge against Leo and the bishops.
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Tom Homan isn’t exactly a model of Catholic virtue. Last year, federal investigators caught Donald Trump’s hand-picked “border czar,” accepting a $50,000 cash bribe stuffed in a Cava restaurant bag.
Yet that didn’t stop Homan from lecturing Church leaders again this week.
On Nov. 14, outside the White House, Homan blasted Pope Leo XIV and America’s Catholic bishops over their new pro-immigrant message — even declaring “the Catholic Church is wrong” and “should spend time fixing their own problems.”
The self-described “lifelong Catholic” insisted that by enforcing harsh border policies “we save a lot of lives,” and he wishes “the Catholic Church would understand that.”
It was a striking rebuke: a man mired in scandal scolding the pope’s Church for showing basic Christian compassion.
Homan’s outburst came just two days after America’s Catholic bishops took a historic stand in defense of migrants.
In an almost-unanimous vote at their fall assembly, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a rare “Special Message” on immigration, urging an end to indiscriminate deportations and hateful rhetoric.
“Human dignity and national security are not in conflict… Both are possible if people of good will work together,” the bishops wrote, reaffirming that welcoming the stranger is a tenet of the faith.
More than 95% of American bishops backed the statement — a level of unity usually never reached on hot button issues.
At Pope Leo’s Urging, Bishops Issue Historic Rebuke of Trump’s Raids
Nearly all U.S. Catholic bishops united in Baltimore to denounce the Trump administration’s “inhumane” deportation campaign — a near-unanimous, unprecedented moral stand against a sitting president.
They cited Scripture’s call to see “the face of Jesus Christ” in migrants, and said they were “saddened by the… vilification of immigrants” in our society.
In short, the U.S. bishops, in union with Pope Leo XIV, made clear that defending immigrant families is not “political,” but a Gospel mandate.
That bold stance sent Trump-world into a fury.
Homan — tasked with executing President Trump’s mass deportation agenda – evidently took the bishops’ message as a personal affront. “The Catholic Church is wrong,” he snapped to reporters, before advising bishops to “spend time fixing the Catholic Church” instead of challenging immigration policy.
It’s a familiar insult from Homan.
Top Trump Official Escalates Attacks on the Pope and Bishops
After attacking the pope, Tom Homan has now accused Bishop Rojas of dishonesty. MAGA’s Catholic problem just got worse.
Earlier this year, when 88-year-old Pope Francis (Leo’s predecessor) decried Trump’s deportation raids as “a disgrace,” Homan snarled that “the pope ought to stick to the Catholic Church and fix that. That’s a mess”
Now Pope Leo XIV and the U.S. bishops are getting the same contempt. Through Homan’s eyes, it’s the Church — not Trump’s harsh policies — that needs correcting.
Never mind that Homan’s own credibility is in tatters, after FBI agents recorded him taking a cash bribe in exchange for promised contracts.
Homan’s tirade is part of a broader meltdown gripping certain MAGA conservatives as the Catholic Church calls out cruelty to migrants. In a brazenly anti-Catholic rant,
Rep. Tim Burchett accused Pope Leo and the Church of “getting rich” off of refugee services — a lie that’s been debunked by the Church’s finances.
In reality, Catholic agencies spend more on helping refugees than they receive in government aid, with “absolutely no profiting from these federal grants,” outside auditors confirm.
Former Congresswoman Nan Hayworth went even further, unloading on Pope Leo XIV as “an ignorant and unwise man… a tool of our enemies.”
She fumed that the pope’s pleas for compassion should be “ignored — with extreme prejudice.”
Other MAGA media personalities have also joined in.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, himself Catholic, blasted the bishops for “never making any video to condemn the Biden White House for… the mass slaughter of children in the womb,” implying they only speak up on immigration and not abortion.
In fact, the U.S. bishops consistently oppose abortion — but Walsh’s whataboutism shows the resentment some on the right feel when Church leaders broaden the “pro-life” ethic beyond a single issue.
Meanwhile, far-right pundit Lara Logan boiled over into pure bigotry, calling Pope Leo “a globalist traitor – just like the last nine [popes]. And I’m Catholic. So spare me.”
Imagine how dense you have to be to complain that the pope of 1.4 billion Catholics is a “globalist.”
Such caustic attacks reveal an undercurrent of anti-Catholic hostility now surfacing in segments of the MAGA base.
Why this unhinged backlash?
Because Pope Leo XIV and the American bishops have challenged a core tenet of Trump-era populism — the idea that migrants and refugees are threats to be excluded or exploited. Pope Leo has continually taught that Christians “must make room for the little ones” and treat immigrants as beloved neighbors, not invaders.
Last month, Leo explicitly urged U.S. religious leaders to “speak strongly” in defense of families harmed by aggressive deportation policies.
The bishops answered that call with an unambiguous message of solidarity. In doing so, they crossed a political tripwire. Trump-aligned figures like Homan, Burchett, and Walsh expect the Church to stay quiet or stay in lockstep with nationalist rhetoric.
Instead, the Church — led by an American pope steeped in the social Gospel – is speaking truths that make the powerful uncomfortable. And those provocateurs simply cannot stand it.
Through all the noise, Pope Leo’s camp is unmoved.
A U.S. bishops’ spokesperson responded to Homan by reaffirming that “the bishops… have spoken together and in unity with Pope Leo XIV.”
The Church’s position is clear, she said: “Human dignity and national security are not in conflict… We invite all Catholics and people of good will to reflect on the [bishops’] message.”
In short, the Gospel won’t be rewritten to appease political ideologues.
While Homan and company rail against Pope Leo and the “ignorant” bishops, the pope is busy modeling the opposite spirit: listening to migrants’ stories, embracing refugees, and reminding the world that “whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me”.
The contrast could not be more stark. On one side, a chorus of anger, fear-mongering, and personal attacks; on the other, a united Church, imperfect but striving to follow Jesus’ command to love and protect the vulnerable.
Homan may complain about the Church, but he does not speak for it. In fact, his recent comments have only underscored why the bishops felt compelled to act.
When Catholic leaders proclaim that migrants have dignity, and the immediate response from MAGA insiders is to sling mud at the pope and peddle conspiracy theories about the Church, it proves Pope Leo’s point: Welcoming the stranger has become a litmus test of authentic Christian witness in our times.
The American bishops’ immigrant-letter was historic for this very reason. Despite knowing it would provoke powerful backlash, they chose to stand with the “least of these.” And that, ultimately, is why the Tom Homans of the world are lashing out so furiously.
The Church has drawn a line in the sand.
Pope Leo XIV and the bishops won’t back down from defending migrant families — even if it means enduring a tempest of slander from political extremists. In the face of that fury, they echo Scripture’s timeless challenge: “We must obey God rather than men.”
The Catholic Church, for all its flaws, is striving to follow the Gospel over any partisan agenda. No amount of MAGA meltdown can change that fundamental truth.
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Bless our Pope. If you are a Catholic you respect the social teachings. Our Lord knows who follows these teachings.
Pope Leo XIV is our duly, correctly and properly elected leader of the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Leo is absolutely correct when he tells us to look after the poor, the vulnerable, the children, and anyone in need. His ideas are based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.
It is significant that those who are bent on destruction in so many areas cannot cope when they are properly admonished.
We should be grateful for such a prayerful, wise and caring leader.