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Jim Cramer z CNBC w piątek przedstawił swój plan działania na nadchodzący tydzień po tym, co nazwał jednym z najbardziej „niesamowitych” rajdów, jakie kiedykolwiek widział.
„Jeśli nie wierzyłeś, że moglibyśmy mieć jeszcze jeden tydzień, w którym wzroslibyśmy o 3%, miałbyś rację,” powiedział Cramer. „W rzeczywistości wzrosliśmy o 4% dzięki dzisiejszym ogromnym ruchom, ponieważ wydaje się, że pokój zaczyna się pojawiać na Bliskim Wschodzie.”
Główne wskaźniki wzrosły w wiadomościach o ponownym otwarciu przez Iran Cieśniny Ormuz w czasie zawarcia rozejmu między Izraelem a Libanem — krytycznego szlaku transportu ropy naftowej na świecie. Indeks Dow Jones wzrósł o 869 punktów, czyli o 1,7%, podczas gdy S&P 500 i Nasdaq zyskały odpowiednio 1,2% i 1,5%. Nasdaq przedłużył swoją serię zwycięstw do 13 sesji — to jego najdłuższy dodatni bieg kolejnych sesji od 1992 roku.

For its first 30 years, Nvidia wasn’t a household name unless you were a gamer. Now, some of its original fan base feel left behind as artificial intelligence has made the chipmaker the world’s most valuable company. 
“The gaming segment is no longer the driving force of the company. There was one point when it clearly was,” said Stacy Rasgon of Bernstein Research.
Nvidia popularized the graphics processing units, or GPUs, that enable fast frame rates and rendering that make the best video game play possible. 
When Nvidia released its first GPU in 1999, the GeForce 256, it laid off the majority of workers and approached bankruptcy to make it happen. Gamers snapped up the new type of processor, bringing Nvidia back from the brink.
Now, with demand for AI soaring, nearly all of Nvidia’s revenue comes from its products that serve that industry, instead of gaming. And as AI chipmaking shrinks the available memory supply, Nvidia has been forced to make tough decisions about priorities.
In a memory-constrained reality, it’s not shocking that Nvidia would prioritize its far more profitable data center GPUs such as Hopper and Blackwell.
Nvidia’s operating margins in its compute and networking segment averaged 69% over the past three years, compared to a 40% margin for the consumer-forward graphics segment.
“I understand that they’re going to chase that. And that breaks my heart,” said Greg Miller, co-founder and host of popular video game podcast Kinda Funny Games Daily in an interview with CNBC.
“Dance with the one who brought you. Gamers have brought you this far,” Miller added.
If analyst predictions are correct, 2026 will be the first year in three decades that Nvidia doesn’t release a new generation of its consumer-facing GeForce line of graphics processing units.
Gamers are “hugely important” to Nvidia, according to an email the company sent to CNBC, adding that it’s “always innovating, testing and releasing” new gaming-focused technologies.
The current RTX 50 series of GeForce GPU was unveiled at CES in January 2025. 
But with 2026 CES and GTC in the rearview mirror, some worry this will be the first year without a new generation, although Nvidia does commonly reveal new hardware as late as September.
While it represents a big strategy pivot, some gamers say it’s not a bad move for their budgets. 
“It’s kind of hard to keep up. You can’t upgrade every single year, so having a bit of a break and waiting for a generation to really matter I think is actually in service of the gamers out there,” said Tim Gettys, Miller’s co-founder of Kinda Funny Games.
AI profits take over
Nvidia’s current era of AI dominance started two decades ago with the 2006 launch of its CUDA software toolkit. Suddenly, developers could use GPUs for general-purpose computing instead of just graphics.
Then, in 2012, Nvidia’s deep learning capabilities were made clear during what many consider the big bang moment for modern AI. Nvidia’s GPUs and CUDA were used to build a neural engine called AlexNet that blew away the competition during a prominent image recognition contest.
Although Nvidia didn’t stop making gaming GPUs, it signaled a new focus on GPUs for AI in 2020 when it purchased high-performance computing chipmaker Mellanox Technologies for $7 billion.
The company has been releasing new generations of high-end GPUs ever since, along with full rack-scale systems for AI workloads such as the new Vera Rubin platform, which CNBC got an exclusive first look at in February.

Nvidia doesn’t reveal prices for its AI chips, but analysts say one Blackwell GPU costs up to $40,000, while the Futurum Group estimates a full Vera Rubin system will cost up to $4 million.
In contrast, Nvidia sells its RTX 50-series gaming GPUs for between $299 to $1,999.
During the cryptocurrency peaks of 2018 and 2021, Nvidia’s GPUs sold in online marketplaces for up to three times listing price because they were once key to mining Bitcoin and Ethereum. 
Although prices fell when mining changed course in 2022, Nvidia’s current RTX 5090 GPU is still sold online for up to double the retail price. 
Plenty of demand for last year’s generation may make Nvidia less motivated to put out a new version this year.
‘Hard to get the memory’
But the memory shortage is a more likely culprit for Nvidia’s gaming drawback.
Industry reports suggest Nvidia has made plans to reduce production of its latest gaming GPUs by up to 40% as it faces a major shortage of the general-purpose memory that’s necessary for making a GPU.
Dynamic Random Access Memory, or DRAM, enables fast, temporary data storage so the GPU can run parallel tasks.
Personal computers, where Nvidia’s gaming GPUs end up, have borne the brunt of DRAM shortages. When memory prices go up, manufacturing a GPU costs more, and that cost trickles down to consumers.
Gartner predicts PC prices will rise by 17% this year, causing PC shipments to decline 10.4%.
“With how expensive all of this has gotten, it’s concerning to see prices go up on the gaming side with no signs of ever coming back down, and then Nvidia clearly chasing a completely different category of consumer,” Gettys said. 
If the entry-level consumer PC market disappears by 2028 as Gartner predicts, the market for Nvidia’s entry-level gaming GPUs is likely to contract, too. 
Instead, Nvidia is likely saving limited memory inventory for its higher cost, higher margin AI chips. 
“If there is push-outs or delays on the gaming roadmap, it’s probably in large part that they probably can’t make the cards anyways because it’s hard to get the memory,” Rasgon said. “Every bit of memory that’s out there, I think is really getting prioritized to AI compute.”
Higher-performance GPUs like Blackwell and Rubin are lined with dense stacks of a specific type of DRAM known as High Bandwidth Memory, or HBM. Rasgon said it takes about four times as many silicon wafers to make a gigabyte of HBM as it does to make the same amount of more traditional types of DRAM.
“That dynamic is starving the overall industry of the type of memory that is traditionally used for more consumer type applications. It’s just not available,” Rasgon said.
Nvidia told CNBC that it’s continuing to ship all GeForce GPUs as it sees strong demand, and is working closely with suppliers to maximize memory availability.
“If they’re making three times the money and the stockholders are three times happier, then yeah, I do think that they will abandon gaming despite it being what got them there,” Gettys said.
Read more CNBC tech news
Anthropic’s Dario Amodei to meet with White House about MythosAMD, Oracle, Microsoft and the IGV lead a monster week for tech stocksNvidia AI chip rivals attract record funding as competition heats upTSMC and ASML post-earnings stock moves could be a sign of what’s to come from chip companies
‘Feels like a slap in the face’
CEO Jensen Huang did make a big gaming announcement at the beginning of his keynote address at Nvidia’s annual GTC conference in March, but the gaming community was less than enthused. 
Huang announced the next generation of its rendering software called Deep Learning Super Sampling or DLSS, coming in the fall. It’s well known for boosting frame rates by rendering games at lower resolutions and using AI to scale up the image, helping games run more smoothly on less powerful hardware.
The controversy with the new DLSS 5 is that gamers worry it uses generative AI to change the look of the game. Huang unveiled DLSS 5 with a sizzle reel of photorealistically enhanced versions of characters in popular games such as Resident Evil Requiem, Starfield, and Hogwarts Legacy.
“I play video games because they’re an art form. And so I like to see the thumbprint of the creator in what I’m doing,” said Miller of Kinda Funny Games. “That raised a lot of hair on a lot of necks in the video game industry as we deal with so many layoffs, so many studio closures.

As it grapples with a post-pandemic slowdown, the gaming industry has seen studio closures, canceled games, and thousands of job cuts across giants like Epic Games, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sony’s PlayStation.
Gettys was a fan of previous versions of Nvidia’s DLSS for making gaming more accessible on a lower budget.
“The technology is mind-blowing for what it can do to make games run on lower-end PCs,” he said. “But then to add this generative AI stuff, it feels like a slap in the face.”
Gettys’ big fear is that this is a step toward fully AI-generated games, which he thinks is “100% the goal.”
Elon Musk has already addressed the potential for it. In an October post on X, Musk said his xAI game studio will release “a great AI-generated game” before the end of 2026.
“You’re literally altering the art created by the developers. And then at a certain point you’re replacing the developers and then their studio gets closed down,” Gettys said.
Nvidia said in a statement to CNBC, “Games are a creative artform that give developers the opportunity to tell engaging stories and immerse players in incredible worlds. Our RTX technologies are tools that enable game developers to achieve their creative vision - these include rendering techniques such as ray tracing and path tracing, and those enhanced by AI, like DLSS Super Resolution, DLSS Frame Generation, and DLSS 5, all working together to provide the best performance and image quality.”
During his GTC keynote, Huang said AI is going to “revolutionize how computer graphics is done.” 
In a question-and-answer session the next day, Huang responded to assertions from the gaming community that DLSS 5 makes games appear homogeneous.
“They’re completely wrong,” Huang said.
He emphasized that game developers will still be in control, able to “fine-tune the generative AI” to match their style.
‘Clear favorite’
For over a decade, Nvidia has also offered gaming in the cloud through a service called GeForce NOW. The model has evolved to include different subscription tiers — including a free option — that lets users stream games they own on services like Steam, running on Nvidia GPUs in data centers, rather than on personal devices. 
“You see XBox and you see PlayStation, you see other competitors trying to get the cloud into gamers’ hands in a way that actually makes sense. And Nvidia GeForce NOW has really cracked that code,” Miller said.
Gettys told CNBC that Nvidia’s streaming platform is the best “by a landslide.”
“It allows millions more people access to gaming at the highest level, even if they don’t have the latest cards and all of that. And it’s truly incredible technology,” he said.
Advanced Micro Devices is Nvidia’s top competitor in gaming, with its Radeon line of GPUs.
But the memory crunch remains a challenge for both.
“If Nvidia can’t get the memory, AMD ain’t going to get the memory,” Rasgon said. “Sentiment wise, both brands have their fans and they can be die hard.”
“There’s a clear favorite,” Gettys said. “If you’re playing on PC, you’re going to want an Nvidia card.”

#INVIDIA #Newss #Binance #Write2Earn #Write2Earn!
$NVDA

After President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV and his foreign policy on social media this week, US Catholics, and especially bishops, have largely reacted with condemnation and dismay.
While it’s not new for US presidents and the popes to disagree – especially on matters concerning war – what’s surprising about the recent spat between Leo and Trump is how much it has unified the Catholic bishops and faithful behind the pontiff, after years marked by division and internal conflict.

Pope Leo XIV arrives for his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on Wednesday, 1st April, 2026. PICTURE: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia.
The bishops’ unity has been strengthened by the election of an American pope and the “general sense of obligation that they need to support him and have his back,” he said.The attack on Pope Leo has united the American hierarchy with particular zeal.”
“The attack on Pope Leo has united the American hierarchy with particular zeal,” said Christopher White, author of the 2025 book Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.
– Christopher White, author of Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.
From the moment Leo walked out on the loggia after his election last May, he laid out his mission, entrusted to him by the cardinals who elected him, to “walk together with you as a church, united, ever pursuing peace and justice.” His motto “In Illo uno unum” (“In the one Christ we are one”) is a manifesto of what the new pope wants to prioritise in what he considers a fractured church and society.
During Pope Francis’ papacy, US bishops only occasionally criticised him in public, but their United States Conference of Catholic Bishops organising body rarely threw its weight behind his priorities, like the environment and dialogue, known as synodality. And their attempts to weigh in on former President Joe Biden’s policies were marred by division as disagreements about denying Democrats who supported abortion rights Communion spilled into public view.

However, under Leo, the bishops have gradually ramped up a forceful and united defense of the pope’s critiques of the Trump administration’s policies.

Though conference leadership and many bishops initially avoided direct public confrontation with the administration, they united behind a November statement opposing indiscriminate mass deportation. But the process behind that statement revealed the bishops were not completely coordinated on a more confrontational stance. A last-minute, public amendment from Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, a close Leo ally, added its strongest oppositional language. And the statement, like most of the bishops’ public interventions until then, did not name Trump directly.

President Donald Trump pretends to aim a sniper gun while speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Monday, 6th April, 2026, in Washington. PICTURE: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson.

Trump’s mass deportation campaign has been a key unifier for the bishops because of the scale of the impact in the pews, said Michael Sean Winters, a longtime bishops’ conference observer and columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. A 2025 report generated by the conference found that nearly one in five US Catholics are at risk of deportation or live with someone who is.

But beyond that, Winters said, “Donald Trump has done more to unite the bishops – generally, not just on the issue of immigration – than they’ve been united in my lifetime.”

Since November, Timothy Broglio, the archbishop for US military services, whose presidency of the conference ended at their meeting the same month, has stated publicly that troops could not be forced to commit immoral acts, including regarding “the intentional killing of noncombatants” in the context of US strikes on alleged drug traffickers and in the Iran war.

In recent weeks, the USCCB’s new leadership has become pointed in calling on Trump to act for peace. Then this week, conference president Paul Coakley, Oklahoma City archbishop, speedily responded to Trump’s Truth Social post criticising Leo, writing: “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

Coakley was quickly backed by other bishops – a sign of conviction in an institution where lengthy discussions can slow public interaction.

“What is particularly noteworthy is that the pope was compelled to make those remarks – and that all US bishops and cardinals are backing him,” said veteran Vatican commentator Massimo Franco, author of the book Popes, Dollars and Wars.
The bishops have been nudged toward stronger, unified public responses by Leo himself – who said in October that the USCCB should be “stronger in their own voice,” and that Broglio as president should speak on immigration – and members within their ranks.

San José, California, Bishop Oscar Cantú, a former conference committee chair, was one bishop calling for the group to become a prophetic “moral voice” and leave behind hesitancy to offend Trump supporters if necessary, he said in an RNS interview at the November meeting.

He told RNS in an email on Tuesday that people in the US face a determinative choice for “our character” as it becomes clear Trump “bears no allegiance, neither to his most loyal supporters nor to the issues they hold dear.”

“This has become a moment in which we cannot remain silent, lest we become complicit in the blasphemy of the sacred and the disrespect to human dignity,” Cantú wrote. Leo is exercising his “prophetic office”, he added.

“The prophets were not popular, particularly with the powerful,” Cantú said.

Cardinals Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, from left, Robert McElroy of Washington, and Blase Cupich of Chicago in a joint interview with CBS’s Norah O’Donnell on ’60 Minutes’, on 12th April, 2026. PICTURE: Video screen grab/CBS.

A day after Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, challenged Leo on his interpretation of just war theory at a Tuesday event, the conference also issued a statement on the issue. “How do you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” Vance asked.

The bishops’ doctrine chair, Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massa, issued a statement clarifying that a just war must be in defence and that “when Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.”

This was a striking difference from February of last year, when Francis himself – not the US bishops – criticised Vance’s theology interpretation after he called on Christians to prioritise immediate family and countrymen above foreigners.

On Thursday, Trump was asked about Massa’s statement about Leo’s authority and responded, “Well, I want him to preach the Gospel. I’m all about the Gospel”, before indicating disagreement with Leo on Iran in a milder tone than his previous statements.

In an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, three cardinals known for being allies of Pope Francis and major players in the 2025 conclave – Cupich; Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, DC; and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey – backed the Pope’s vision for welcoming immigrants and opposing war.
Around the time of CBS’ airing of the cardinals’ interview, Trump made his post criticising Leo. Shortly after that, the president posted an artificial-intelligence-generated image that many observers interpreted as comparing him to Jesus; Trump argued that the image of him in robes and a red shawl depicted him as a doctor, but the post was later deleted after heavy criticism.

But the interview also showed the bishops’ attempts to appeal to the center, echoing the Vatican’s desire to position itself as a bridge-builder.

For example, McElroy criticised the Biden immigration policy for “getting out of control” and affirmed “strong borders”, similar to the rhetoric behind the Dignity Act, a bipartisan immigration reform bill that several bishops are backing.

Even Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron, who has hewed closer to Trump than most of the bishops as a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, wrote on X that Trump’s comments were “inappropriate and disrespectful” and that he owed Leo an apology.

Barron, who has a large social media following through his Word on Fire ministry, nevertheless praised Trump in the same post, writing that “No President in my lifetime has shown a greater dedication to defending our first liberty”, and suggested that it was appropriate to disagree over policy matters with the Vatican in meetings.

The Long Read: Trump slammed the first US Pope. The country’s bishops now appear more united than ever
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ and ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN David Adams
April 18, 2026
No Comments

United States
RNS

After President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV and his foreign policy on social media this week, US Catholics, and especially bishops, have largely reacted with condemnation and dismay.

While it’s not new for US presidents and the popes to disagree – especially on matters concerning war – what’s surprising about the recent spat between Leo and Trump is how much it has unified the Catholic bishops and faithful behind the pontiff, after years marked by division and internal conflict.

Pope Leo XIV arrives for his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on Wednesday, 1st April, 2026. PICTURE: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia.

“The attack on Pope Leo has united the American hierarchy with particular zeal,” said Christopher White, author of the 2025 book Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.

“The attack on Pope Leo has united the American hierarchy with particular zeal.”

– Christopher White, author of Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.

The bishops’ unity has been strengthened by the election of an American pope and the “general sense of obligation that they need to support him and have his back,” he said.

From the moment Leo walked out on the loggia after his election last May, he laid out his mission, entrusted to him by the cardinals who elected him, to “walk together with you as a church, united, ever pursuing peace and justice.” His motto “In Illo uno unum” (“In the one Christ we are one”) is a manifesto of what the new pope wants to prioritise in what he considers a fractured church and society.

During Pope Francis’ papacy, US bishops only occasionally criticised him in public, but their United States Conference of Catholic Bishops organising body rarely threw its weight behind his priorities, like the environment and dialogue, known as synodality. And their attempts to weigh in on former President Joe Biden’s policies were marred by division as disagreements about denying Democrats who supported abortion rights Communion spilled into public view.

However, under Leo, the bishops have gradually ramped up a forceful and united defense of the pope’s critiques of the Trump administration’s policies.

Though conference leadership and many bishops initially avoided direct public confrontation with the administration, they united behind a November statement opposing indiscriminate mass deportation. But the process behind that statement revealed the bishops were not completely coordinated on a more confrontational stance. A last-minute, public amendment from Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, a close Leo ally, added its strongest oppositional language. And the statement, like most of the bishops’ public interventions until then, did not name Trump directly.

President Donald Trump pretends to aim a sniper gun while speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Monday, 6th April, 2026, in Washington. PICTURE: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson.

Trump’s mass deportation campaign has been a key unifier for the bishops because of the scale of the impact in the pews, said Michael Sean Winters, a longtime bishops’ conference observer and columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. A 2025 report generated by the conference found that nearly one in five US Catholics are at risk of deportation or live with someone who is.

But beyond that, Winters said, “Donald Trump has done more to unite the bishops – generally, not just on the issue of immigration – than they’ve been united in my lifetime.”

Since November, Timothy Broglio, the archbishop for US military services, whose presidency of the conference ended at their meeting the same month, has stated publicly that troops could not be forced to commit immoral acts, including regarding “the intentional killing of noncombatants” in the context of US strikes on alleged drug traffickers and in the Iran war.

In recent weeks, the USCCB’s new leadership has become pointed in calling on Trump to act for peace. Then this week, conference president Paul Coakley, Oklahoma City archbishop, speedily responded to Trump’s Truth Social post criticising Leo, writing: “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

Coakley was quickly backed by other bishops – a sign of conviction in an institution where lengthy discussions can slow public interaction.

“What is particularly noteworthy is that the pope was compelled to make those remarks – and that all US bishops and cardinals are backing him,” said veteran Vatican commentator Massimo Franco, author of the book Popes, Dollars and Wars.

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The bishops have been nudged toward stronger, unified public responses by Leo himself – who said in October that the USCCB should be “stronger in their own voice,” and that Broglio as president should speak on immigration – and members within their ranks.

San José, California, Bishop Oscar Cantú, a former conference committee chair, was one bishop calling for the group to become a prophetic “moral voice” and leave behind hesitancy to offend Trump supporters if necessary, he said in an RNS interview at the November meeting.

He told RNS in an email on Tuesday that people in the US face a determinative choice for “our character” as it becomes clear Trump “bears no allegiance, neither to his most loyal supporters nor to the issues they hold dear.”

“This has become a moment in which we cannot remain silent, lest we become complicit in the blasphemy of the sacred and the disrespect to human dignity,” Cantú wrote. Leo is exercising his “prophetic office”, he added.

“The prophets were not popular, particularly with the powerful,” Cantú said.

Cardinals Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, from left, Robert McElroy of Washington, and Blase Cupich of Chicago in a joint interview with CBS’s Norah O’Donnell on ’60 Minutes’, on 12th April, 2026. PICTURE: Video screen grab/CBS.

A day after Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, challenged Leo on his interpretation of just war theory at a Tuesday event, the conference also issued a statement on the issue. “How do you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” Vance asked.

The bishops’ doctrine chair, Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massa, issued a statement clarifying that a just war must be in defence and that “when Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.”

This was a striking difference from February of last year, when Francis himself – not the US bishops – criticised Vance’s theology interpretation after he called on Christians to prioritise immediate family and countrymen above foreigners.

On Thursday, Trump was asked about Massa’s statement about Leo’s authority and responded, “Well, I want him to preach the Gospel. I’m all about the Gospel”, before indicating disagreement with Leo on Iran in a milder tone than his previous statements.

In an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, three cardinals known for being allies of Pope Francis and major players in the 2025 conclave – Cupich; Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, DC; and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey – backed the Pope’s vision for welcoming immigrants and opposing war.

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Around the time of CBS’ airing of the cardinals’ interview, Trump made his post criticising Leo. Shortly after that, the president posted an artificial-intelligence-generated image that many observers interpreted as comparing him to Jesus; Trump argued that the image of him in robes and a red shawl depicted him as a doctor, but the post was later deleted after heavy criticism.

But the interview also showed the bishops’ attempts to appeal to the center, echoing the Vatican’s desire to position itself as a bridge-builder.

For example, McElroy criticised the Biden immigration policy for “getting out of control” and affirmed “strong borders”, similar to the rhetoric behind the Dignity Act, a bipartisan immigration reform bill that several bishops are backing.

Even Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron, who has hewed closer to Trump than most of the bishops as a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, wrote on X that Trump’s comments were “inappropriate and disrespectful” and that he owed Leo an apology.

Barron, who has a large social media following through his Word on Fire ministry, nevertheless praised Trump in the same post, writing that “No President in my lifetime has shown a greater dedication to defending our first liberty”, and suggested that it was appropriate to disagree over policy matters with the Vatican in meetings.

President Donald Trump on 12th April, 2026, left, and Pope Leo XIV on31st March, 2026. PICTURE: AP Photos.

Similarly, Raymond Arroyo, an EWTN Catholic news network host who had platformed Francis’ detractors, called Trump’s remarks about the Pope “disrespectful,” but he added that Leo’s suggestion that people reach out to their congresspeople about the war sounded “political” and that the cardinals’ 60 Minutes appearance was an attempt to provoke Trump.

One analysis on the far-right news website LifeSite suggested that Trump doesn’t need “leftist cardinals to make him look bad” since he “is alienating Catholics all on his own.”

Some of the qualified condemnations after Trump’s posts could suggest that such US Catholic unity is temporary and that the Catholics who criticised Francis may not unite with the wing of the church closest to the late Pope, or may not fully back Leo’s reproaches of Trump administration policy.

Nonetheless, the anti-Francis wing of the church was a small minority, with nearly seven in 10 Republican Catholics expressing favourable views of him shortly before his death. And as Leo recently urged “generous inclusion” for old Latin Mass followers, some conservative Catholics appear more hopeful for his papacy.

“Pope Leo was able to unify, depolarize the American church with his style, but also his perception that compromise is necessary on certain issues,” said Massimo Faggioli, a church historian, author and professor of ecclesiology at Trinity College in Dublin. “His first year brought home this important result,” he added, but “at the cost of not addressing divisive issues.”

The Long Read: Trump slammed the first US Pope. The country’s bishops now appear more united than ever
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ and ALEJA HERTZLER-MCCAIN David Adams
April 18, 2026
No Comments

United States
RNS

After President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV and his foreign policy on social media this week, US Catholics, and especially bishops, have largely reacted with condemnation and dismay.

While it’s not new for US presidents and the popes to disagree – especially on matters concerning war – what’s surprising about the recent spat between Leo and Trump is how much it has unified the Catholic bishops and faithful behind the pontiff, after years marked by division and internal conflict.

Pope Leo XIV arrives for his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on Wednesday, 1st April, 2026. PICTURE: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia.

“The attack on Pope Leo has united the American hierarchy with particular zeal,” said Christopher White, author of the 2025 book Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.

“The attack on Pope Leo has united the American hierarchy with particular zeal.”

– Christopher White, author of Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy.

The bishops’ unity has been strengthened by the election of an American pope and the “general sense of obligation that they need to support him and have his back,” he said.

From the moment Leo walked out on the loggia after his election last May, he laid out his mission, entrusted to him by the cardinals who elected him, to “walk together with you as a church, united, ever pursuing peace and justice.” His motto “In Illo uno unum” (“In the one Christ we are one”) is a manifesto of what the new pope wants to prioritise in what he considers a fractured church and society.

During Pope Francis’ papacy, US bishops only occasionally criticised him in public, but their United States Conference of Catholic Bishops organising body rarely threw its weight behind his priorities, like the environment and dialogue, known as synodality. And their attempts to weigh in on former President Joe Biden’s policies were marred by division as disagreements about denying Democrats who supported abortion rights Communion spilled into public view.

However, under Leo, the bishops have gradually ramped up a forceful and united defense of the pope’s critiques of the Trump administration’s policies.

Though conference leadership and many bishops initially avoided direct public confrontation with the administration, they united behind a November statement opposing indiscriminate mass deportation. But the process behind that statement revealed the bishops were not completely coordinated on a more confrontational stance. A last-minute, public amendment from Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, a close Leo ally, added its strongest oppositional language. And the statement, like most of the bishops’ public interventions until then, did not name Trump directly.

President Donald Trump pretends to aim a sniper gun while speaking with reporters in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, on Monday, 6th April, 2026, in Washington. PICTURE: AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson.

Trump’s mass deportation campaign has been a key unifier for the bishops because of the scale of the impact in the pews, said Michael Sean Winters, a longtime bishops’ conference observer and columnist for the National Catholic Reporter. A 2025 report generated by the conference found that nearly one in five US Catholics are at risk of deportation or live with someone who is.

But beyond that, Winters said, “Donald Trump has done more to unite the bishops – generally, not just on the issue of immigration – than they’ve been united in my lifetime.”

Since November, Timothy Broglio, the archbishop for US military services, whose presidency of the conference ended at their meeting the same month, has stated publicly that troops could not be forced to commit immoral acts, including regarding “the intentional killing of noncombatants” in the context of US strikes on alleged drug traffickers and in the Iran war.

In recent weeks, the USCCB’s new leadership has become pointed in calling on Trump to act for peace. Then this week, conference president Paul Coakley, Oklahoma City archbishop, speedily responded to Trump’s Truth Social post criticising Leo, writing: “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

Coakley was quickly backed by other bishops – a sign of conviction in an institution where lengthy discussions can slow public interaction.

“What is particularly noteworthy is that the pope was compelled to make those remarks – and that all US bishops and cardinals are backing him,” said veteran Vatican commentator Massimo Franco, author of the book Popes, Dollars and Wars.

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The bishops have been nudged toward stronger, unified public responses by Leo himself – who said in October that the USCCB should be “stronger in their own voice,” and that Broglio as president should speak on immigration – and members within their ranks.

San José, California, Bishop Oscar Cantú, a former conference committee chair, was one bishop calling for the group to become a prophetic “moral voice” and leave behind hesitancy to offend Trump supporters if necessary, he said in an RNS interview at the November meeting.

He told RNS in an email on Tuesday that people in the US face a determinative choice for “our character” as it becomes clear Trump “bears no allegiance, neither to his most loyal supporters nor to the issues they hold dear.”

“This has become a moment in which we cannot remain silent, lest we become complicit in the blasphemy of the sacred and the disrespect to human dignity,” Cantú wrote. Leo is exercising his “prophetic office”, he added.

“The prophets were not popular, particularly with the powerful,” Cantú said.

Cardinals Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, from left, Robert McElroy of Washington, and Blase Cupich of Chicago in a joint interview with CBS’s Norah O’Donnell on ’60 Minutes’, on 12th April, 2026. PICTURE: Video screen grab/CBS.

A day after Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, challenged Leo on his interpretation of just war theory at a Tuesday event, the conference also issued a statement on the issue. “How do you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” Vance asked.

The bishops’ doctrine chair, Brooklyn Auxiliary Bishop James Massa, issued a statement clarifying that a just war must be in defence and that “when Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.”

This was a striking difference from February of last year, when Francis himself – not the US bishops – criticised Vance’s theology interpretation after he called on Christians to prioritise immediate family and countrymen above foreigners.

On Thursday, Trump was asked about Massa’s statement about Leo’s authority and responded, “Well, I want him to preach the Gospel. I’m all about the Gospel”, before indicating disagreement with Leo on Iran in a milder tone than his previous statements.

In an interview with 60 Minutes on Sunday, three cardinals known for being allies of Pope Francis and major players in the 2025 conclave – Cupich; Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, DC; and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey – backed the Pope’s vision for welcoming immigrants and opposing war.

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Around the time of CBS’ airing of the cardinals’ interview, Trump made his post criticising Leo. Shortly after that, the president posted an artificial-intelligence-generated image that many observers interpreted as comparing him to Jesus; Trump argued that the image of him in robes and a red shawl depicted him as a doctor, but the post was later deleted after heavy criticism.

But the interview also showed the bishops’ attempts to appeal to the center, echoing the Vatican’s desire to position itself as a bridge-builder.

For example, McElroy criticised the Biden immigration policy for “getting out of control” and affirmed “strong borders”, similar to the rhetoric behind the Dignity Act, a bipartisan immigration reform bill that several bishops are backing.

Even Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, Bishop Robert Barron, who has hewed closer to Trump than most of the bishops as a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, wrote on X that Trump’s comments were “inappropriate and disrespectful” and that he owed Leo an apology.

Barron, who has a large social media following through his Word on Fire ministry, nevertheless praised Trump in the same post, writing that “No President in my lifetime has shown a greater dedication to defending our first liberty”, and suggested that it was appropriate to disagree over policy matters with the Vatican in meetings.

President Donald Trump on 12th April, 2026, left, and Pope Leo XIV on31st March, 2026. PICTURE: AP Photos.

Similarly, Raymond Arroyo, an EWTN Catholic news network host who had platformed Francis’ detractors, called Trump’s remarks about the Pope “disrespectful,” but he added that Leo’s suggestion that people reach out to their congresspeople about the war sounded “political” and that the cardinals’ 60 Minutes appearance was an attempt to provoke Trump.

One analysis on the far-right news website LifeSite suggested that Trump doesn’t need “leftist cardinals to make him look bad” since he “is alienating Catholics all on his own.”

Some of the qualified condemnations after Trump’s posts could suggest that such US Catholic unity is temporary and that the Catholics who criticised Francis may not unite with the wing of the church closest to the late Pope, or may not fully back Leo’s reproaches of Trump administration policy.

Nonetheless, the anti-Francis wing of the church was a small minority, with nearly seven in 10 Republican Catholics expressing favourable views of him shortly before his death. And as Leo recently urged “generous inclusion” for old Latin Mass followers, some conservative Catholics appear more hopeful for his papacy.

“Pope Leo was able to unify, depolarize the American church with his style, but also his perception that compromise is necessary on certain issues,” said Massimo Faggioli, a church historian, author and professor of ecclesiology at Trinity College in Dublin. “His first year brought home this important result,” he added, but “at the cost of not addressing divisive issues.”

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In the first 11 months of his papacy, Leo has offered olive branches to conservative factions inside the institution that had been shunned by the Francis papacy for their vocal opposition to his vision for the church. For the most part, Leo has appointed bishops and curial members known for not taking sides in polarising debates, while still confirming his predecessor’s legacy of promoting lay leadership in the church – including women.

In his first interview after becoming Pope, with Crux Vatican reporter Elise Ann Allen, Leo said he hoped his US roots “will make a difference eventually with the bishops of the United States.”

“The fact that I am American means, among other things, that people cannot say, as they did with Francis, ‘he does not understand the United States, he simply does not see what is happening,’” Leo said.

At the same time, a circle of Catholic allies is tightening around Trump – including Vance, border tsar Tom Homan and Trump adviser Sebastian Gorka, who have all supported the President’s comments and urged the Catholic Church and the Pope to stick to matters of spirituality.

“The level of the confrontation has escalated,” Faggioli said. “It’s a confrontation that is more on a religious level between two opposing visions of Christianity, one of the Vatican and one of the Trump administration, which coincide with two Americans who represent these two different visions.”

Whether the unity currently on display among Catholic bishops will hold remains to be seen, but the Vatican appears to be looking to the future. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, a veteran Vatican diplomat from Argentina, noted in an interview with an Italian newspaper that “people pass, but values remain”, and he suggested that Leo might wait for the end of the Trump administration before returning to his native US.
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