Pope Francis should brace for a new dynamic in the US Catholic Church

On Dec. 20, Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Brian Burch as the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. Burch, the president of CatholicVote.org, has been an outspoken defender of Trump and vigorously promoted his reelection in 2020 and 2024.

Making the announcement, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “He represented me well during the last Election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any Presidential Candidate in History!”

In its mission statement, CatholicVote seeks to “inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of our faith in public life.” As president of the organization, Burch has brought his evangelization into the political arena as a cultural warrior.

When Pope Francis permitted priests to bless same-sex couples in 2023, Burch argued the Pope created “massive confusion” that would “destroy” the Catholic Church’s teaching on human sexuality.

In 2024, CatholicVote ran television advertisements accusing Kamala Harris of supporting taxpayer-funded gender reassignment surgeries. Burch described Harris as promoting a “trans agenda being pushed on our kids.”

Among those whom Burch sees as exemplifying the Catholic faith are those who have run afoul of Pope Francis. Former Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano is one.

Writing to Donald Trump in 2020, Vigano maintained that “the children of darkness — whom we may easily identify with the deep state which you wisely oppose and which is fiercely waging war against you” were responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd riots.

Burch defended Vigano, saying: “Vigano may not have everything right. But there is one thing of which I am certain; Satan is real, and he’s on the prowl.” In 2024, the Vatican excommunicated Vigano citing “his refusal to recognize and submit to the Supreme Pontiff.”

Donald Trump is right to claim that Brian Burch will represent him well in Rome. And what Burch represents is a frontal assault on the papacy of Pope Francis. In an interview with The New York Times, Burch criticized the pope’s treatment of his critics and mocked his “progressive Catholic cheerleading.”

Conservative critics of Pope Francis, including Cardinal Raymond Burke and former bishop, Joseph Strickland, both of whom were removed from their posts after repeatedly questioning the pope’s authority, found support from Burch, who said of their dismissals: “The pattern of vindictiveness and punishment seems to fly in the face of what he says about being an instrument of mercy and accompaniment.”

Burch’s appointment highlights divisions within the U.S. Catholic Church that worsened during Joe Biden’s presidency.

On the day of Biden’s inauguration, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop José Gomez, issued a churlish statement: “Our new president has pledged to pursue certain policies that would advance moral evils and threaten human life and dignity, most seriously in the areas of abortion, contraception, marriage, and gender.”

That morphed into a controversy as to whether pro-choice Catholic politicians like Biden and Nancy Pelosi should receive Holy Communion, a ban that was imposed upon Pelosi by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

The Catholic Church's movement to the right is evident in the makeup of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Hartford Archbishop Christopher Coyne says: “Collectively, I believe we tend to be a more conservative, Republican type of community.”

But the conservative wave within the U.S. Catholic Church is not limited to its bishops. A survey of 3,500 priests conducted by The Catholic University of America found more than half described themselves as “conservative/orthodox” or “very conservative/orthodox,” with more than 8 in 10 new priests in agreement. Not a single priest ordained after 2020 described himself as “very progressive.”

During the Biden presidency, there has been an unusual closeness between the president and the pope. This began after the death of Joe Biden’s son, Beau, when the pope offered “solace” to the distraught father and maintained frequent contact with the president.

It is no surprise that Biden’s last major foreign trip as president will be to the Vatican for a final meeting with the pope. This visit comes after Biden commuted the death sentences of most federal prisoners to life imprisonment, answering the pope’s prayer that he do so. The fraternal relations between the president and pope have been unusual and beneficial to both.

But with the second coming of Donald Trump, things will be different. An immediate clash is likely to occur over Trump’s mass deportation proposals. Trump has called violent immigrants “animals,” a contrast to Pope Francis’s view that not welcoming immigrants represents a “grave sin.”

On this issue, Burch disagrees with the pope. In 2022, CatholicVote charged that Catholic agencies were contributing to the “chaos” at the U.S.-Mexico border. In a statement, he accused those agencies of a coverup: “American Catholics deserve to know the full extent of the U.S. government’s role in funding and coordinating with Catholic Church affiliated agencies at the border, and what role these agencies played in the record surge of illegal immigrants.”

Daniel Flores, bishop of the border town of Brownsville, Texas, accused Burch of framing the relationship between Catholic humanitarian groups and the federal government “in a distorted way.”

There is every reason to expect that Burch will bring his combative style to the Vatican. Steven Millies, a public theology professor and director of the Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, says of his nomination: “Burch is an agitator, mostly, the opposite of a diplomat. His appointment signals what we already know; a difficult time lies ahead for U.S.-Vatican relations.”

By bringing his activist and confrontational style to Rome, Brian Burch is sure to represent Donald Trump well. And that will have an adverse impact on U.S. diplomacy.

John Kenneth White is a professor emeritus at The Catholic University of America. His latest book is titled “Grand Old Unraveling: The Republican Party, Donald Trump, and the Rise of Authoritarianism.” He can be reached at johnkennethwhite.com.

Topics

An economically dynamic India is Manmohan Singh’s greatest legacy

He drove radical reform of an anti-market policy regime that was strangling growth
Financial Times - 9h
Should Employees Use Sick Time for Doctor’s Appointments?

And two other tricky workplace dilemmas.
Inc. - 12h
Pope Francis names first woman to run Vatican office

Yahoo News - 1d
Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office

Pope Francis has named the first woman to head a major Vatican office
ABC News - 1d
Pope Francis names the first woman to head a major Vatican office

Pope Francis named the first woman to head a major Vatican office. Sister Simona Brambilla will be responsible for all the Catholic Church’s religious orders.
NBC News - 1d
US braces for major winter storm moving across the country

Heavy snow and frigid temperatures are expected to impact more than 60 million across the country this weekend. NBC's Angie Lassman tracks the forecast.
NBC News - 3d
Army veteran identified as driver in New Orleans attack, Catholic school mourns victim

The driver in the New Orleans attack has been identified as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Jabbar, an honorably discharged Army veteran, according to officials. Meanwhile, a Catholic high school has ...
NBC News - 6d
Pope calls for protection of life in New Year's message

Pope Francis called for the protection of life at New Year’s Day Mass on Wednesday, offering a seemingly anti-abortion message. “Let us entrust this new year to Mary, Mother of God,” Francis said ...
The Hill - 6d
Pope calls for commitment to protect life in New Year message

Pope Francis ushered in the New Year with an appeal for the faithful to reject abortion, calling for a “firm commitment” to protect and respect life from conception to natural death
ABC News - 6d