The Trump–Leo standoff could happen in Australia, though both political and clerical leaders here are much more cautious about church–state relations.

What does it mean to be Catholic in Australian politics today? The clash between Pope Leo and US President Donald Trump and his administration raises this question for Australian Catholics, clergy and laity alike.

Catholics in Australia are politically diverse and, as in the USA, are becoming more prominent on the conservative side. Potentially, this puts many leading Catholics at odds with Leo’s progressive positions on several hot-button issues. However, greater party discipline in Australia and deeply embedded ideological positions among clergy and laity make it most unlikely that Catholic parliamentarians from opposing parties would come together ‘across the aisle’ as happened recently in the US House of Representatives. There the ‘Dignity Act’, a bipartisan immigration proposal that reflects church teaching on migration and the dignity of the person had significant support from Catholic representatives.

The label ‘Catholic’ is often elusive because there are so many shades between being Mass-going and merely having a Catholic school background. For some political leaders, their denominational allegiance is strikingly public, but for others it is not. Peter Dutton, for instance, was surprisingly presented as a Catholic leader in some quarters prior to the 2025 federal election, making it a choice for prime minister between two Catholics, Dutton and Anthony Albanese.

The leading Catholic conservative politicians and active former politicians now include Senator Matt Canavan (Nationals), Barnaby Joyce (One Nation) and Tony Abbott........

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