Megyn Kelly accuses Trump of 'mocking 1.4 billion Catholics' with Jesus meme

WASHINGTON, DC: Megyn Kelly isn’t clutching her pearls over President Donald Trump picking a fight with Pope Leo XIV.

On the Monday, April 13, episode of her eponymous show, the journalist gave her two cents on the situation. “Seems like a great time to start a feud with a Catholic Pope," she quipped.

Kelly didn’t pretend the clash came out of nowhere.

“I will be the first to tell you, the Pope has been critical of this war — I'm Catholic, obviously — he's been critical of this war, and it occurred to me that it was just a matter of time before President Trump would lash out at him, and he did,” she explained. “So it wasn't great. It was predictable.”

Predictable clash of power and ego

Kelly said she “could see it coming,” noting that the President has a signature playbook when it comes to handling public criticism.

“You could definitely question the wisdom of doing this with President Trump leading a nation of 330 million people. Pope Leo leads about 1.4 billion Catholics across the world. But President Trump doesn't care. He doesn't, and he wouldn't even care if the majority of Americans were Catholic, which they're not; this is what he does,” Kelly pointed out. “If you if he perceives you as coming at him, he will come at you.”

Kelly recounted Trump’s Truth Social remarks, where he labeled the Pope “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy.” He admitted in a follow-up interview that he “wasn't a fan” of the Pope.

Meanwhile, Trump refused to issue any apology.

“He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,” Trump said, adding, “I think he’s very weak on crime and other things, so I’m not” going to apologize.

“He went public,” the Republican president added. “I’m just responding to Pope Leo.”

Speaking to reporters aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria, the Pope pushed back.

“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo said. “And I’m sorry to hear that, but I will continue what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

The Jesus post that crossed the line

While the feud was expected, what really set Kelly off was Trump’s now-deleted social media post featuring an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus healing someone.

“It is obviously him purporting to be God. That is what he's doing,” she said. “And it is blasphemous by any definition of that word. I actually just looked it up just to, just to have it at the ready. I mean, blasphemy is a reverence towards sacred entities.”

Kelly labeled the post “completely inappropriate,” and suggested it smacked of attention-seeking more than anything else.

“I don't know why the president is getting so desperate for attention that he feels the need to mock 1.4 billion Catholics. It's enough for this nonsense,” she stressed. “I know you love getting a rise out of people. I know you're really enjoying being subversive. You upset all the right people. I get it, but, why? This is completely wrong.”

She also made it clear that the move felt particularly unnecessary given Trump’s support among Catholic voters.

“We would appreciate not being mocked for our religious beliefs, something you seem to be increasingly fond of doing across most but not all religions,” she declared.