Trump’s antipathy for Pope may have roots in childhood Protestant church

Manhattan church led by Norman Vincent Peale was known for opposing presidency of JFK – and Catholics in general

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump">Donald Trump’s attacks this week on https://www.theguardian.com/world/pope-leo-xiv">Pope Leo, for his criticism of the US attack on Iran and the US president’s decision to post an image of himself as Jesus Christ on social media, make a good deal more sense considering Trump attended services as a young man at the Protestant Marble Collegiate church in Manhattan, which was led at the time by an anti-Catholic pastor.

That church’s pastor in Trump’s youth, Norman Vincent Peale, who would later officiate at Trump’s first wedding, is best-known today as the author of the Christian self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking, but when Trump was 14, Peale made national headlines as the leader of a group of Protestant churchmen who loudly objected to the presidential candidacy of John F Kennedy, on the grounds that he was a Catholic.