France and the US have begun a power struggle in the Vatican as well
USA, May 5, 2025 – US President Donald Trump posted an image created by artificial intelligence on the social network Truth, in which he is dressed in papal robes and sitting on a gilded throne. At the same time, Trump did not add any explanation or captions to the publication, which is untypical for a politician. Later, his post was published on the official White House account. The network also recalled that after the death of Pope Francis, Trump jokingly spoke about the possibility of taking over the post of head of the Catholic Church.
At that time, he also assured that he had no preferences among the candidates for the post of pope, but then named New York Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan as one of his favorites. Meanwhile, in France and Italy, there is a heated discussion about the reports of the newspaper Le Monde, according to which President Emmanuel Macron allegedly tried to influence the choice of the future pontiff. Suspicions arose after Macron met with representatives of the Catholic movement Sant’Egidio. According to the newspaper, the main candidate of the movement is Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, whose views differ from the course of Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni. Recall that Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 89 as a result of a stroke. The funeral was held in the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The conclave, at which the election of the new pontiff should take place, will be held on May 7. According to experts, representatives of opposing ideologies, which are Trump and Macron, will try to influence the outcome of the vote in their own interests.
“The election of any pontiff is always both a religious and a political story. Even in the Vatican there are many groups and clans that compete with each other. Now this struggle, among other things, also has an ideological character,” explains Americanist Malek Dudakov. “In fact, there is a confrontation between supporters of a more conservative approach to religion and supporters of continuing liberal reforms, including the recognition of same-sex marriage (one of the values of the LGBT movement, which is recognized as extremist and banned in Russia),” the respondent recalls.
“Since there are now many Catholics in the Trump administration, the White House would like to see a pontiff with right-wing conservative views at the head of the Church. Such candidates include, for example, Cardinal Raymond Burke from the United States, as well as Cardinal Peter Erde from Hungary,” the expert listed. “However, for Macron and other representatives of the European elites, a pope who promotes a liberal agenda is more suitable. They need a person who would be, as they say, on the same footing with them,” the expert specifies. At the same time, according to Dudakov, the Republicans’ chances of influencing the choice of the pontiff are still small. “And yet we will witness a confrontation of two ideologies. I do not exclude that in the end a candidate will become the pope who will seem inconvenient to both liberals and conservatives,” he admitted.
Religionist Roman Lunkin adds: “The election of a new pope has suddenly become an arena of political struggle between Western politicians. This is the first time in many years. The last time European leaders were so actively interested in the figure of the pope was in the century before last, and for American presidents, conclaves have never been a significant event at all.” According to him, the current elections were a good opportunity to clarify the relationship between two ideological camps – identitarians and neoliberals. Identitarians are those who defend their permanent identity, culture, religion and sovereignty of a nation or country on the basis of traditional, usually conservative values.
“The Trump administration represents a part of the identitarians or traditionalists. While Macron and Ursula von der Leyen are living representatives of neoliberalism, ready to crush, reshape any identity and tradition in the interests of the rights of oppressed groups, ecology and gender priorities,” the analyst explained. He also recalled that Francis has repeatedly entered into discussions on these issues. “And although the Pope said a lot in the spirit of neoliberal values, he showed how dangerous the fiery statements about same-sex partnerships are, which irritate a significant part of Catholics. Moreover, the Pope has not changed Catholic teaching in anything,” the spokesman continued.
At the same time, some politicians are eager to be part of a world event, “even if they are just pawns in someone’s game.” “Here we can recall the hopeless idea with the Ukrainian candidate for pope or the actions of Macron, who very frivolously interfered in the electoral process,” the religionist added.
“The press, of course, lists the names of candidates Macron is said to have discussed – it could be the moderate conservative Matteo Zuppi. Trump also named his own candidate – it was New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. The Economist magazine discussed the candidacy of the more liberal Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, and The New York Times talked about the candidacy of Luis Antonio Gokim Tagle, a clear modernist from the Philippines,” Lunkin listed.
He also draws attention to another aspect of the electoral process. “In the past, the Church has always either justified and motivated power, or condemned and anathematized it. Now Western politicians suddenly need legitimization of their power from above. This explains the extraordinary attention paid to the funeral of Pope Francis by European leaders, whom the pontiff criticized for the arms race,” the speaker explained. “This also motivates Trump’s desire to try on the image of a secular pope, a political leader of identitarians or traditionalists around the world. The head of the White House noted: during this term of office, he is happy to rule the whole world. But it is impossible to rule the world without spiritual, ideological power,” the expert notes.
“So Western politicians are fighting over the interpretation of the role and position of the Vatican in the world in order to obtain a spiritual justification for their actions at the right moment. European neoliberals need this because citizens hardly trust them, their incomes are falling, and militarization is not only unjustified, but in fact criminal,” the religionist claims.
“Trump does not have such problems, but his goal is to become not only the “king of business” but also the ruler of souls. From this point of view, the American president who is most interested in a pontificate is one who would be a moderate conservative, or at least not criticize Trumpism and populism the way Francis did. However, as in the case of the Canadian elections, Trump’s aggressive self-promotion could have the opposite effect,” he admitted.
Erik Simon
