In a Short Take published online on March 19, “The U.S. government is at war with the Catholic Church,” Nathan Scheinder, a contributing writer for America, argued that the Trump administration’s actions on immigration enforcement, his war-making, the denial of climate change and a lack of civility constitute the acts of a “hostile power” against Catholic teaching. “The war against Catholic teaching is less kinetic than the government’s recent spectacles of violence, from Minneapolis to Tehran,” Mr. Schneider wrote. “It is also less visible. But once you begin to notice it, the state of war is clear.” Our readers had much to say in response.

To me, if someone is at war with someone else, their goals are to destroy or dominate the other. This differs from someone considering someone else’s goals as contrary to their own and not acting in a way that advances the other person’s goals. I view the Trump administration as the latter, and labeling them “at war” with the Catholic Church as Trumpesque hyperbole.

I don’t see Mr. Trump trying to take over the Catholic Church, or to change Catholic teaching. He wants Catholics to vote and support him. They are a core group of his supporters. Being “at war” indicates wanting to destroy or harm them. Instead, he’ll do what it takes to get their vote and support.
Margaret Burch

Thank you for this statement of where our Catholic faith should take us, and I am thankful for the growing number of Catholics who recognize how we have failed to follow Jesus’ teaching and profound example. But it is not just our nation and our political leadership who have led us astray. The bishops of the United States, with some notable exceptions, have been silent about or, in the case of several notables, have been cheerleaders for an accelerating wave of discrimination, “othering” and outright hatred in the country I love.
Ed Dailey

The fear of speaking up against Mr. Trump’s policies as contrary to Catholic social teaching in this article is reality-based. To those readers who agree with Mr.  Schneider’s analysis, I can only say: Without risks to one’s status in a local parish and diocese, one becomes part of the problem and not part of a solution. It is helpful to know church history and those saints whose witness drew the ire of their bishop or religious superior, not to mention secular authorities.
Father Bernard Survil

People sometimes point to the story of Mary and Joseph being warned by the angel to go to Egypt to argue that we should support illegal aliens. Mary and Joseph were not illegal aliens. Egypt and Jerusalem both formed parts of the same Roman Empire. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security sought illegal aliens, not immigrants. D.H.S. sought those people who came into this country illegally. But President Biden let in an excess of tens of thousands, including unaccompanied minors, into the U.S. illegally. That is messy and not a proper use of asylum.
Katherin Marsh

I very much enjoyed Mr. Schneider’s article but was disappointed with the headline and the end of the article with statements about the U.S. government being at war with the Catholic Church. Can Mr. Schneider express his points with nonviolent language instead? I am reminded of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa’s plea for reporters to not fuel hatred and violence with rhetoric that incites division and confusion. Mr. Schneider’s pitting of the U.S. government against the Catholic Church only serves to weaponize these two institutions.
Father Leo LeBlanc

This is over-the-top rhetoric. Disagreeing on issues hardly means there is a “war.” And I remember when abortion was the top social issue that bishops weighed in on. This president was instrumental in the historic overturn of Roe v. Wade. How soon we forget.
John Gorman

This is a compelling and well-written article which I would like to share on social media so that more people will read it. However, I will not do so because it includes a completely unnecessary photograph of the president. Nothing in this article requires a photo of him, and including it only gives him more press. Publishing images of him reinforces his disastrous hold on the American public. I urge America Media to reconsider its policy of using photographs of Trump in every article that mentions him.
Brigid Frein

This article appears in May 2026.