In interview with Catholic journalist, Trump chafes at forgiving enemies
In a Nov. 8 interview, President Donald Trump said he hates some political enemies and does not think he can forgive them, despite the Gospel’s call to forgive. New York priest Father Gerald Murray warned that dying in hatred risks a person’s relationship with God, while Father Gabriel Mosher said power and limited suffering may make forgiveness harder. Catholic teaching describes mercy and forgiveness as essential to Christian life and warns that persistent refusal to forgive endangers the soul. Trump said he hopes to go to heaven and does not want to go to hell; Catholic scholar Matt Mehan questioned aspects of the interview despite viewing the journalist’s intentions as honorable.
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In a Nov. 8 interview, President Donald Trump said he probably could not forgive some political enemies, even when asked about forgiveness in the context of divine judgment. Catholic clergy and commentators responded by emphasizing the Christian obligation to forgive, while some also criticized the decision to discuss such personal questions on television.
“60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat asked Trump whether he could forgive political opponents, including former FBI Director James Comey and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, if forgiveness were required to enter paradise. Trump said he hated some enemies because he believed they had weaponized the law against him, adding, “I probably cannot do that now because I do hate some of my enemies and I always will.”
Asked what he believed would happen after death, Trump said he was religious and, “in theory,” would go to heaven. When Douthat asked whether he thought he was going to heaven, Trump replied, “I hope so. I don’t want to go to hell.”
Father Gerald Murray, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in New York, said he was praying that Trump would recognize the spiritual risk of dying while hating his enemies. Murray said Christians are commanded to love their enemies and forgive those who persecute them, and that hatred harms the person who holds on to it.
The article cites Jesus’ instruction to love and pray for one’s enemies and says the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that mercy and forgiveness are essential to remaining in a state of grace and to reconciliation with God. It adds that persistent refusal to forgive is considered a danger to the soul.
Father Gabriel Mosher, OP, said people who have suffered greatly and lack the power to retaliate may develop a greater capacity to forgive. He described forgiveness as difficult and suggested that Trump’s lifestyle might not foster the vulnerability it requires.
Catholic scholar Matt Mehan and Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Luma Simms objected to asking Trump deeply personal questions about his soul on national television. Mehan said Douthat’s intentions may have been loving and honorable, but argued that intention was not enough; Simms called probing someone’s soul on television neither honorable nor respectful.
Cultural commentator Laura Stalberg Gigliotti, writing as Peachy Keenan, described loving enemies as one of Christianity’s hardest teachings. Pillar Catholic editor JD Flynn suggested that the exchange might prompt Trump to reconsider his bitterness, and said it could also remind viewers of the broader challenge of letting go of grudges and forgiving.
Persistent refusal to forgive imperils Christian salvation
The headline expresses a serious Christian warning: a deliberate, settled refusal to forgive is incompatible with receiving God’s mercy while rejecting the mercy one is called to extend to others. But it should not be read as a verdict on any particular person’s eternal fate. The Church’s teaching also distinguishes choosing to remain unforgiving from struggling with painful memories or finding forgiveness emotionally difficult.
Jesus connects the forgiveness we ask of God with the forgiveness we give others: “if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Pope Francis emphasizes that this is not a minor detail in Christian life: God’s mercy is offered abundantly, but a person who receives it is called to become merciful toward others.
The Catechism explains the spiritual danger in terms of the heart’s openness to grace:
In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father's merciful love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to his grace.
The point is not that God is unwilling to forgive a person who has been hurt or is still wrestling with resentment. Rather, a settled refusal to forgive resists the very mercy the person seeks from God. It closes the heart to reconciliation and conversion. In that sense, persistent unforgiveness imperils salvation: it is spiritually serious because it can become a lasting rejection of grace, not because one bitter feeling automatically proves that someone is condemned.
A crucial qualification appears in the Catechism of the Council of Trent. It addresses people who want to forgive and try to do so, but cannot erase the memory of the injury or still feel some inward resentment. Such people, it says, need not despair, provided they persevere in the disposition and effort to forgive. The Christian life can involve a real conflict between the impulse toward revenge and the will to pardon.
Pope Francis gives a practical response to the person who says, “I cannot do it”: ask the Lord for the strength to forgive. Thus, forgiveness need not begin as warm affection or as the disappearance of pain. A person may still grieve, remember, or experience anger while sincerely seeking freedom from hatred and revenge. The relevant distinction is between difficulty in forgiving and a chosen determination never to forgive.
Forgiveness is not the same as declaring that an injustice did not happen, excusing wrongdoing, or immediately restoring trust. The International Theological Commission notes that the New Testament’s call to forgive without limit does not rule out addressing serious offenses through steps such as admonition, correction, and, when necessary, exclusion for the community’s good.
That distinction matters in cases of abuse, betrayal, or continuing danger. A person can reject hatred and vengeance while maintaining appropriate boundaries and seeking justice or protection. The supplied sources support the need for prudent responses to serious wrongdoing; they do not require an injured person to resume a relationship or expose themselves to further harm.
The Catechism of Trent warns that hatred can become entrenched and generate further sins, including unjust judgment, anger, envy, and detraction. It points Christians instead toward Christ’s example of praying for those who harmed him and toward remembering their own need for God’s mercy. The danger, then, is not only the original grievance: sustained hatred can shape a person’s outlook and deepen resistance to charity.
Still, a headline cannot establish the spiritual condition of the person it concerns. Catholic teaching allows a clear assessment of the attitude—that a persistent, deliberate refusal to forgive is gravely contrary to Christ’s command—without claiming knowledge of an individual’s full responsibility, capacity for conversion, or final standing before God. The proper conclusion is a warning and a call to repentance, not a declaration that a particular person is beyond mercy.