A megachurch pastor has gone on record claiming that President Trump’s understanding of the Biblical role of government surpasses that of Pope Leo XIV. Pastor Robert Jefress of First Baptist Dallas went on “Fox News Live” just a few days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended a meeting with the Pope. “The Pope is a good man, he’s sincere in his faith, but he’s sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran. It looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches than the Pope,” said Jefress. He referred to Romans 13, stating that “The role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers.”

Social media shared its thoughts about Jefress’s comments. “The Baptist pastor and many other evangelicals like him were fed with lies by the WH and they swallowed them up! Worst still, their church leaders and members approve of them!! God have mercy,” wrote one user on X. “Neither one truly understands what the Bible says. First and foremost the president compared himself to Jesus Christ? That is the most blasphemous thing that anyone can say. And the pope calls himself the holy Father? There is only one holy Father and that is GOD,” wrote another. “‘It looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches than the Pope’ One might have assumed this @FoxNews segment was a parody… Perish the thought — Pastor Robert Jeffress delivered his absurd claim, ‘serious as a pope.’ Truly,” said one more.

Tensions continue between the Vatican and the White House. President Trump has refused to apologize for comments he made calling Pope Leo XIV “weak.” “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. I think he’s very weak on crime and other things, so I’m not [going to apologize,]” he said. “He went public. I’m just responding to Pope Leo.” The Pope, too, has refused to withdraw from his stance against the war. “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for. I will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems,” he said. Jefress, too, has been supportive of the President over the Pope, defending President Trump’s previous comments against Pope Leo XIV. “What the president said was absolutely correct,” he once told Religion News.  “Pope Leo apparently doesn’t have a biblical understanding of what the government’s role is in protecting its citizens from those who would do us harm both from within and without our country.”