What to Know
After Karoline Leavitt bragged about praying before a press briefing ahead of Easter weekend in 2026, she had to expect that her religious comments would come back to bite her in some way. In a clip that was shared on X, she takes a question from a reporter who asks Leavitt what she thinks about Pope XIV’s remarks about rejecting war.
Leavitt’s response is to say that the military accepts and needs prayers during this time, and she also makes claims about what the United States was founded on, as far as religion goes. For the cross-wearing “Amen” singing press secretary, clearly, religion is a big deal. But if that is the case, she might want to get some of her facts straight.
Karoline Leavitt spoke about saying a prayer before a press briefing.
Reporter confronts Karoline Leavitt: “Since you mentioned Easter and prayers, I’m going to ask you about something the Pope Leo said yesterday. He said, ‘God does not listen to the prayer of those who wage war.’ Can you comment on that?” pic.twitter.com/mgnMQ4QbX3
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) March 30, 2026
At the start of the press briefing, Leavitt talks about saying a prayer beforehand and celebrating “the resurrection” of Jesus ahead of Easter. I’m not even going to get into separating church and state, because clearly, we are so far past that at this point that it’s unnecessary to even point out what should and should not be promoted by those in the White House.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas,” she says to the reporter in the clip on X. “In fact, I think it’s a very noble thing to do, and if you talk to many service members, they will tell you they appreciate the prayers and support.”
Sure, it is noble. But the issue that people have is the fact that the U.S. is involved in a war at all. And when Leavitt made other claims about the country, people took issue with those comments too. Mostly, people are calling out Leavitt for her supposed knowledge of religion and American history.
She made some claims about the “Judeo-Christian” religion that founded America.
In the same clip from the press briefing, Leavitt says, “Our nation was a nation founded 250 years ago almost on Judeo-Christian values.” But people responded to the X post to give Leavitt a resounding “nuh-uh.” Well, in more words than that, but plenty of users took the opportunity to respond to the X post and share all the reasons why Leavitt is incorrect.
“Just FYI: The term ‘Judeo-Christian’ values was not around 250 years ago! ” Someone commented. They added, “The word ‘religion’ is only mentioned twice in the United States Constitution. Both mentions were exclusionary.”
Another user responded, “Our country was not founded as a Judeo-Christian nation…it was founded by Deists who believed in a higher power but not the dogmatics and oppression of state-religions (puritans came to escape religious persecution, but colonists practiced different religions FREELY).”
“The United States was not founded on Christian values,” someone else wrote on X. “@PressSec should read a history book. Many of our founding fathers were Deists. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine are commonly recognized as Deists. They rejected traditional Christian doctrines like the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, advocating instead for a ‘rational’ religion.”
Pope Leo has made his thoughts on the war in Iran clear.
Although Leavitt and other members of Trump’s inner circle have their thoughts on religion clear, Pope Leo has ideas that differ from theirs when it comes to how to lead a nation peacefully. According to The Catholic Observer, Pope Leo told reporters that he hopes Trump is “looking for an off-ramp” from the conflict in Iran.
“Hopefully, he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created and that’s increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere,” he said.
READ NEXT: Karoline Leavitt Claims Trump Understands MAHA Moms Even Though Healthy Eating Isn’t His Thing
