Mary Continues Changing the Americas

The United States of America has been a Protestant country since its founding. Of the 56 people to sign the Declaration of Independence, only one, Charles Carroll, was Catholic. Of those who signed the Constitution, only 2 were Catholic. There have been 46 presidents. Of those presidents, two have been Catholic, John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden.

The anti-Catholic spirit of the United States has historically been so great that when campaigning for president, John F. Kennedy faced great difficulties because of his faith. These difficulties led him to effectively disavow any practical impact that his faith would have on his governing in a speech made during his campaign in September of 1960. 

He said: “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute—where no Catholic prelate would tell the President (should he be Catholic) how to act.”

In September 2024, 64 years later, Donald Trump posted to his Instagram page an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, with a short but sweet caption, “Happy Birthday Mary!”

To understand more about Donald Trump’s September 8th post, one ought to understand more about the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On December 12th, 1531, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared on the tilma of St. Juan Diego in the presence of the Bishop of Mexico City, Juan de Zumarraga. 

In the decades following this apparition, nearly 9 million converts were received into the Catholic Church. To put this into perspective, during the same time, Martin Luther, generally considered the father of the Protestant Reformation in Europe, converted an estimated 5 million.

As big as the Protestant Reformation was, Our Lady of Guadalupe was bigger. In fact, this lasting image of Mary still exists! Having endured nearly five hundred years, it miraculously remains on the tilma of St. Juan Diego, on display in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where millions make pilgrimage every year to see the image even to this day. Undoubtedly over time, it has inspired tens of millions more to enter into and persevere in the Catholic faith.

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is an image undeniably linked to Catholicism in the Americas. 

Returning to more recent history, Donald Trump’s post reframes Protestant America in a Catholic lens, marking a slow but sure shift in American religion and politics. In 1960, a Catholic candidate for the presidency was so certain that his Catholic background would lose him votes that he deemed the best way forward was to divorce his governance from the influence of his faith. Donald Trump, despite being a non-Catholic, boldly proclaims on his social media, on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, “Happy Birthday, Mary!”

It is also worth noting that Donald Trump made another post later in the month. On September 29th, the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, Donald Trump posted a painting of St. Michael the Archangel casting Satan down from heaven. The caption was the St. Michael prayer.

Perhaps this change in American politics is due to the growth of religious indifferentism; Americans don’t care as much if someone is Catholic or Protestant. This change could also be indicative of a larger trend in the United States towards Catholicism. 

From 1948 to 2022, according to Gallup polling data, self-described religious affiliation in the United States has remained mostly stagnant for Catholics at 22 to 23 percent. Compare this to Protestant affiliation dropping from 69% to 34% in the same time-frame. While Protestant denominations seem to be losing many church-goers, Catholic parishes seem much more stable and eternal. While one Instagram post won’t convert a nation, it is indicative of a change in American politics. Whether it is 1531 or 2024, Mary is still changing the Americas!