Trump decisively won Catholic vote in 2024. The Trump administration’s ongoing effort to shut down or massively cut the U.S. Agency for International Development is putting the future of a major Catholic relief agency at risk, despite the Republican portraying himself as an ally to Catholics on the campaign trail. Catholic Relief Services, founded in 1943 by U.S. Catholic bishops, is the single largest recipient of funds from the development agency, which funds around half of the religious aid group’s $1.5 billion budget.
![[Elon Musk has threatened to shut down USAID, prompting protests from Democrats and supporters of the aid agency]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/04/20/02/SEI238485192.jpeg)
"We anticipate that we will be a much smaller overall organization by the end of this fiscal year," the relief agency’s president and CEO Sean Callahan told staff on Monday. Observers of the Catholic group argued that the White House’s attacks on the U.S. aid agency, which have included Trump adviser Elon Musk claiming without evidence the administration is a “criminal organization,” go against bedrock Christian and American principles of supporting the less fortunate.
"CRS is the Gospel at work and reflects the best of American values," John Carr, former executive director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development, told the National Catholic Reporter. Catholic Relief Services provides emergency and disaster assistance, as well as funding programs related to water, sanitation, agriculture, health and other areas serving an estimated 200 million people across over 100 countries.
On the campaign trail Trump, as well as Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, sought to portray themselves as allies to U.S. Catholics. Nonetheless, the alliance with Catholics does not seem to extend to their U.S.-funded relief work, with Musk claiming the U.S. development agency and its partners are part of a “radical-left political psy op.”. “[Trump] agreed we should shut it down,” Musk said during a live discussion on X Spaces. “It became apparent that it’s not an apple with a worm in it. What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair. We’re shutting it down.”.
In recent days, senior staff at the administration have been placed on leave, contractors have been fired, staff have been barred from agency headquarters, and the Trump White House has instituted a 90-day pause on foreign aid. “We were inundated with a barrage of hostile, threatening messages,” one staffer told The Independent. “I think they were designed to instill fear.”. The campaign to slash the U.S. aid agency has prompted protests from Democrats, who rallied outside agency headquarters and have threatened to withhold future State Department confirmations until the group’s funding is restored.
