"Robert Barron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester in Minnesota, was appointed less than a week ago by President Trump to the new White House Commission on Religious Liberty."

Honestly it looks like we've got a HNer quoting a journalist quoting a bishop quoting a cardinal.

The cardinal who said 'until America goes into political decline, there won't be an American pope' died in 2015 (i.e. before Trump's first term)

The bishop who quoted them does hold the post you mention - but they didn't originate the quote, they just quoted it.

Thanks for this. The quote-of-a-quote in the original article was confusing, made worse by the fact that it was said by Robert who is not the new Pope, formerly known as Robert.

I wouldn’t assume that just because Trump appoints someone to a commission, they and Trump see eye-to-eye about whatever.

Bishop Barron is pretty middle-of-the-road as far as US Catholic bishops go - he’s not much of a progressive, but nor is he a traditionalist or hardline conservative. On most issues on which Pope Francis and President Trump disagreed, Barron’s views and instincts are closer to the late Pope (who made him a bishop and then gave him a diocese) than to Trump’s