"Let the pope have his say": Pennsylvania Catholics caught between Trump and Pope Leo

Politics "Let the pope have his say": Pennsylvania Catholics caught between Trump and Pope Leo By Zak Hudak Updated on: April 22, 2026 / 4:13 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Bucks County, Penn. — Catholic churches seem to be everywhere in this southeastern Pennsylvania county — 33 parishes, to be exact — and for good reason. More than a third of Bucks County residents are Catholic, according to the privately run 2020 U.S. Religion Census.In 2024, Catholic voters helped deliver Bucks County to President Trump, marking the first time in 36 years that a Republican presidential candidate carried the county and helping him win statewide.But the Iran war, Pope Leo XIV's biting criticisms of it and, in turn, Mr. Trump's attacks on the pope have many Catholics in Bucks County watching closely in a midterm year. Even Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez, who oversees Bucks County, weighed in. He defended the pope from Mr. Trump's attacks, saying in a statement that the pope's call for peace "powerfully reflects the truth of the gospel." That sentiment was echoed from the pulpit at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Philadelphia into the pews at St. Mark's parish in Bristol borough.William Watkins, a Democrat from Bristol who has voted for GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in past elections, told CBS News after a Friday morning Mass that he would likely vote against the moderate Republican in the fall if the U.S. is still at war with Iran on Election Day. "I would do it as a protest," he said. "Not that I think he's not a good candidate. I just think that the policy of the Republican Party right now is too one-sided."  Bucks County has comprised the majority of Pennsylvania's First Congressional District since 2019, and was part of the state's Eighth District before that. The southern population of the county is more working class than its northern counterpart, and it is fiercely independent. In 2024, Fitzpatrick won reele...