A Catholic leader who oversees an area that includes Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate has slammed the president over his feud with Pope Leo XIV.

Bishop Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez — who heads the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida — wrote in a post to social media last week that the diocese “stands firmly with the Holy Father” and “strongly rejects the disrespectful and violent attacks” that Trump had directed against him, per a Google translation.

The bishop’s message goes on to state that the attacks “constitute a grave violation of the religious freedom enshrined” in the U.S. Constitution and, “as such, harm the rights of the American Catholic faithful.”

A similar message, shared by Catholic commentator and Democratic operative Christopher Hale in a post to X, concluded with Rodríguez asking people to pray for Leo’s safety.

The message was shared during Sunday mass, per Hale.

La @DiocesePB se mantiene firme junto al Santo Padre, @Pontifex_es, y rechaza enérgicamente los ataques irrespetuosos y violentos que el Presidente Donald J. Trump ha dirigido contra el Santo Padre. Estos ataques también constituyen una grave violación de la libertad religiosa… pic.twitter.com/CVLidjvyTj

Rodríguez has previously served at churches in Brooklyn and Queens, not far from Trump’s childhood home in New York City’s Jamaica Estates neighborhood.

After Leo appointed Rodríguez to serve as bishop of Palm Beach late last year, he criticized the president’s immigration policy, telling The Associated Press that he wants to assist Trump as “we believe that we can do better.”

He noted that the administration shouldn’t be focused on deporting children who have “never committed any crime.”

“Migrants are not to be demonized … Good migrant people that are here to work hard for their families — they share many of our core values,” said Rodríguez, whose congregation at Our Lady of Sorrows church in Queens consists mostly of migrants.

“They’re to be not to be rejected and treated harshly but instead, they’re to be treated respectfully and with dignity. So, that’s the idea, and Pope Leo is backing us up in this.”

The bishop joins a number of critics in the Catholic community and beyond who have taken on Trump over his feud with the first American-born pontiff.

The pope seemingly upset Trump with his calls for peace amid the president’s unpopular Iran war. Trump’s unhinged attack on his Truth Social platform last week led the pope to vow that he’ll continue to “speak out loudly against war.”

On Saturday, the pope told reporters that it’s not in his “interest at all” to debate Trump and, after declaring that he had “no fear” of the president last week, suggested that the media has misinterpreted some of his remarks since.

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