Fox News host Sean Hannity is explaining his decision to leave the Catholic church long before President Donald Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV.
“As of today, I no longer consider myself a Catholic. I am a Christian,” Hannity, 64, said on the Thursday, April 16, episode of his primetime show Hannity. “I left the Catholic church in large part due to the institutionalized corruption, and it was at the parish level, to the bishop level, cardinals, all the way to Rome.”
Without naming specific situations, Hannity criticized the scandals and “terrible behaviors” in the Catholic church that he claimed were “frankly not only unchecked, they never fully corrected it or dealt with it.”
“Others at the Vatican have totally lost the true meaning of the Bible and its teachings,” he added.
The comments come after Pope Leo spoke out against the ongoing war America is fighting in Iran.
As a result, Trump chose to criticize the leader of the Catholic church on his Truth Social.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote on April 19. “He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even 20 feet apart.”
Pope Leo responded to Trump’s message the next day by telling reporters, “I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”
During his Fox News program, Hannity shared a glimpse into how he was raised Catholic during his childhood.
“Like millions of Americans, I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic school for 12 years,” he revealed. “I even attended a seminary in high school, studied theology, Latin, went to Mass daily. I got a lot out of it.”
While he doesn’t approve of everything the Catholic church is teaching — and even claimed Pope Leo is “seemingly enjoying a public fight” with Trump — Hannity said there were some beneficial aspects of his upbringing.
“My parents were devout Catholics, and while I wasn’t particularly engaged at the time and the teachings of the Catholic church, as a young person, it certainly entered my consciousness,” he explained. “[It] made me a better person and has been a positive force in my life in so many ways.”
Hannity airs on Fox News weeknights at 9 p.m. ET.
