(LifeSiteNews) — What’s going on in the Republican Party right now is very concerning: Ted Cruz bashing the Catholic cry “Christ is King” as an anti-Semitic trope, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth inviting his pastor to preach at the Pentagon despite the fact that his pastor openly advocates forbidding Catholics from doing public Marian and Eucharistic processions, and President Trump himself removing Carrie Prejean Boller from the Religious Freedom Commission for stating her Catholic beliefs against Zionism – that same Zionism which has brought us into this Iran war threatening to erupt into World War III.
As co-founder of LifeSiteNews, I have spent decades defending the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church in the public square. What is happening right now in the Trump administration is a grave pattern that should alarm every faithful Catholic: Zionism has become the new litmus test for power in Republican circles — and Protestant voices are increasingly turning against Catholics who refuse to bow to it.
First: Senator Ted Cruz declares “Christ is King” an anti-Jewish “code word.”
On CBN News this week, evangelical Senator Ted Cruz went on record saying the biblical proclamation “Christ is King” — the very heart of our Catholic Faith and the doctrine of the Social Kingship of Christ that we have proclaimed for 2,000 years — is now being “twisted into an anti-Jewish code word” when used by anyone questioning unconditional support for the modern state of Israel:
Ted Cruz says the phrase “Christ is King” has become offensive because it is now being used in an antisemitic way.
According to Cruz, the phrase is being twisted online into an anti-Jewish code used to target Jews.
He claims the groyper groups are using it as a rallying phrase… pic.twitter.com/kOmdSmRZ7q
— Shadow of Ezra (@ShadowofEzra) March 13, 2026
As he is a Bible-only evangelical, I’m shocked at Senator Cruz’s biblical illiteracy. First off, every Christian knows the story of how the Jewish leadership forced Pilate to crucify Jesus – they went so far as to say, “Let his blood be on us and our children.” (Mt. 27:25)
Secondly, it was Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who, while hanging on the Cross, prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
And finally, Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, drives home the point in Acts 3 so there is no room for doubt. In the Jewish temple he addresses the crowd:
The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
READ: Ted Cruz calls ‘Christ is King’ an anti-Semitic ‘code word’
Of course, in a real sense, we are all guilty by our sins for Christ’s crucifixion, but to deny the reality that it was the Jews who took the primary action is ridiculous.
Senator Cruz claimed he “never heard ‘Christ is King’” growing up — only phrases like “Jesus Saves.”
Now that struck me as really strange. Senator Cruz’s own father, Rafael, was a Cuban refugee who fled brutal communist persecution under Fidel Castro. Catholic churches were seized, priests imprisoned, and faithful Catholics were tortured and martyred — many dying with the heroic cry “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”) on their lips.
In fact, the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora in Miami has a permanent exhibit honoring exactly those martyrs who gave their lives proclaiming the Kingship of Christ against atheistic tyranny.
The permanent exhibit is titled: “The Cuban Experience: Why Freedom Matters.”
Its official description (straight from the museum’s website) says exactly this:
This exhibit honors the courage of those who, with cries of ‘Viva Cristo Rey,’ chose to die standing rather than live kneeling, endured imprisonment for speaking out, or built new lives as exiles…
So this is part of Senator Cruz’s own family heritage. How can a man from that background now treat the proclamation of Christ’s Kingship as suspect?
Moreover, to say it is not biblical shows more of that ignorance of the Scriptures we saw last time. 1 Timothy 6:15 and the Book of Revelation refer to Jesus Christ as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
OK, so if you want an official Catholic take on the whole question of supporting the state of Israel, let’s see what happened in the exchange between Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), the founder of modern political Zionism, and Pope Pius X (reigned 1903–1914, canonized a saint in 1954) during a private audience at the Vatican on January 26, 1904.
Theodor Herzl’s own diary entry recording notes Pope Pius X replying to his request for support for a Jewish state in the Holy Land:
We cannot give approval to this movement. We cannot prevent the Jews from going to Jerusalem—but we could never sanction it. The soil of Jerusalem, if it was not always sacred, has been sanctified by the life of Jesus Christ. As the head of the Church I cannot tell you anything different. The Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people.
The Pope noted that he personally had always been on good terms with Jews, prayed for their enlightenment, and showed basic human courtesy. He told Herzl: “If you come to Palestine and settle your people there, we shall have churches and priests ready to baptize all of you.”
Like Mother Miriam always says, the greatest form of antisemitism is to keep Jesus from the Jews.
However, it’s not only Ted Cruz. Just this week it was revealed that President Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, invited his mentor Pastor Doug Wilson to deliver a sermon inside the Pentagon on February 18, 2026 — broadcast live on the Department of Defense network. Hegseth praised his pastor as a bold truth-teller.
What truth? In his book Papa Don’t Pope and other writings, Wilson openly calls for Catholic public processions to be banned in a Christian nation: Corpus Christi, Marian, Eucharistic, Rosary walks — all of them.
You can hear him for yourself. He just said so on a podcast:
Secretary Pete Hegseth Pastor who was Invited to Pray at Pentagon Says Publicly Eucharist and Marian Procession Should NOT be Permitted in Public. See more here: https://t.co/5fpjjd1ff8 pic.twitter.com/iKJg1bPCuI
— John-Henry Westen (@JhWesten) March 13, 2026
He calls the Holy Mass “idolatry,” devotion to Our Lady “Mariolatry,” and the entire Catholic sacramental system “covenantal rebellion.” In his vision, the public square belongs only to his Protestants, and he spoke at the Pentagon and was broadcast to all our troops. And remember, one in four members of the U.S. military is Roman Catholic.
And remember a few weeks ago when Protestant Republican leader Dan Patrick fired the only anti-Zionist Catholic from the president’s own commission?
Well President Trump just affirmed that anti-Catholic firing:
🚨President Trump officially removes me from the Religious Liberty Commission for exercising my Religious Liberty.
The only Catholic woman who opposes Zionism was removed as a prelude to the Iran war.
This is the email I received from the White House informing me that my… pic.twitter.com/Fk2IOgqsEz
— Carrie Prejean Boller (@CarriePrejean1) March 12, 2026
READ: White House officially removes Carrie Prejean Boller from Religious Liberty Commission
Carrie Prejean Boller — a Catholic mother, Trump supporter, and former Miss California — was removed from the President’s Religious Liberty Commission. She was the only Catholic woman on the panel who openly opposes Zionism, standing on the perennial teaching of the Church that the Catholic Church is the new Israel and Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises to the Jews.
I saw this morning that even Sarah Palin, a lifelong Protestant and Christian Zionist, expressed shock: “Why are we calling this Religious Liberty?” she asked on X.
Why, then, are we calling this Religious Liberty? @CarriePrejean1 #NoQuestionsAllowed Agree with Americans’ right to question an influential country’s leadership decisions or not, censoring citizens’ concerns is… well… concerning #ReligiousLibertyCommission #CarriePrejean… https://t.co/l0eObDvaxe
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) March 12, 2026
This flows directly from President Trump’s own deep allegiance to Zionism: his son-in-law Jared Kushner (who brought Ivanka into Judaism) brokered the Abraham Accords, moved the embassy to Jerusalem, and has longstanding Chabad-Lubavitch ties. Massive funding came from Miriam Adelson, who poured over $100 million into Trump’s campaign and inauguration, tied to her hardline Zionist agenda.
Even the top Catholics in the administration stayed silent.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — both Catholics — have at times voiced caution on endless aid or specific policies. Yet when Carrie Prejean Boller was purged and publicly asked them to defend her Catholic religious liberty, both men remained completely silent. That silence speaks volumes.
My friends, the perennial teaching of the Church must be defended.
Pope St. Pius X told Theodor Herzl in 1904: “The Jews have not recognized our Lord; therefore we cannot recognize the Jewish people.” The Holy Land belongs to Christ and His Church. Christian Zionism is a Protestant innovation that distorts Scripture and now marginalizes Catholics even inside “religious liberty” commissions.
Sarah Palin’s small pushback shows not every Protestant agrees. But the machinery — Senate statements, Cabinet appointments, White House decisions, billionaire funding — is moving fast. And resulting in war and mayhem.
This is a moment of decision. We cannot remain silent while the Social Kingship of Christ is treated as secondary to any earthly agenda.
Zionism is turning Protestant politicians in America against faithful Catholics.
We fight this battle with charity, courage, and total fidelity to Our Lord. Viva Cristo Rey! Christ is King! And Mary, His Holy Mother, is our Queen and the Patroness of the Americas.
