
About this episode
The episode discusses the recent clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, exploring its implications for religious relations in the US.
Donald Trump’s latest clash with the Pope has stunned even the more hardened of America-watchers. According to the President of the United States Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV, the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion people, is 'WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy.' He also claimed that, 'If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.' Is the war in Iran the only reason the Pope and the President have clashed? And what does it tell us about religious relations in the US today? In a special podcast collaboration, the host of Holy Smoke Damian Thompson and the host of Americano Freddy Gray discuss the dispute. Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Natasha Feroze. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts . Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
People in this episode
Host: Damian Thompson
Guest: Freddy Gray
Topics covered
- Trump
- Pope
- religious relations
- US politics
- foreign policy
- crime
Keywords
- Trump
- Pope
- religion
- politics
- foreign policy
- crime
- US
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Acast
More episodes of Holy Smoke
- Mexico, the Catholic Church & the rise of the cartel cults · June 8, 2026 · 28 min
- Michael Gove on why the Pope's AI intervention shames our politicians · May 28, 2026 · 15 min
- One year of Pope Leo – a promising start? · May 12, 2026 · 38 min
- Is Pope Benedict’s Ordinariate for ex-Anglicans finally going to realise its potential? · April 25, 2026 · 30 min
- How homosexuality has torn apart the United Methodist Church · April 12, 2026 · 19 min
- How would you sell Christianity today? with Rory Sutherland · April 5, 2026 · 28 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Holy Smoke podcast page.