An Interview: The Pope and the President, by Nathan Pinkoski

By Nathan Pinkoski, American Greatness, May 21, 2026

This article was originally published in Italian as “Un monarco, non un cittadino: Conversazione con Nathan Pinkoski, saggista e Senior Fellow al Center for Renewing America,” Limes—Rivista Italiana di Geopolitica, Lo scisma d’Occidente, no. 4 (2026): 127–32. The translation was originally published on Substack on May 19, 2026. You can follow Nathan Pinkoski at his page, Lament for the Nations, there.

An interview on a very American and very theological quarrel.

The Italians have a venerable national tradition of commenting on papal controversies. This month, the Italian journal of geopolitics, Limes, has weighed in. They interviewed me on the recent exchanges between Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump.

Church commentary always sounds better in Italian, so I encourage you to read the interview on their website.

However, for the one or two of you out there who don’t know Italian, my lightly edited English translation of the interview follows below.

LIMES: Is Robert Francis Prevost an American pope or an American that happens to be the pope? In other words, is he a Roman pontiff or a patriot using his ministry to serve his own country? …