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Martina Navratilova recently made her feelings known on American conservatives disapproving of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost, becoming the new head of the Catholic Church earlier this week. The American amplified a report suggesting that the Make America Great Again movement had launched "an aggressive push" to influence Prevost's papal appointment unsuccessfully.
Navratilova is one of the greatest tennis players of all time, having mastered singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles during her heyday. A 59-time Majors titlist, she enjoyed 18 of those triumphs in singles and established herself as one of the most dominant pros in the game's history.
Since her retirement in the early 2000s, Martina Navratilova has made a concerted effort to speak on world politics. Earlier on Saturday (May 10), the 68-year-old reacted to a report from social commentator James Tate, which stated that several "wealthy Catholic donors" tried to sway the new Pope's election with financial promises worth upto $1 billion. She reposted the above report on her X account, pointing out the US conservatives' "massive fail".
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"A massive fail but yikes. MAGA is trying every trick in the book," Navratilova wrote on her X handle on Saturday.
"As the Vatican mourned Pope Francis, U.S. conservative Catholics launched an aggressive push to influence the papal election — but it may have backfired. During 'America Week', wealthy Catholic donors hosted VIP events in Rome, with promises of $1 billion in donations if the 'right pope' was elected," the excerpt from James Tate's report read.
For those unversed, American conservatives are not in favor of Robert Francis Prevost taking the helm as the new Pope owing to his seemingly progressive views if Donald Trump's ex-chief strategist Steve Bannon's recent comments are anything to go by.
"It is shocking to me that a guy could be selected to be the Pope that had had the Twitter feed and the statements he's had against American senior politicians," Steve Bannon told BBC earlier this week.
Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly met Martina Navratilova's ire over the last few months.
Martina Navratilova is not a fan of US president Donald Trump
Martina Navratilova hasn't missed a beat in criticizing Donald Trump, an adherent of the MAGA movement. In February this year, the 18-time singles Major winner went as far as to call the 47th President of the USA a "cultist" and an "adjudicated rapist" due to his treatment of Janet Mills, the governor of Maine, over trans athletes competing in national women's sports.
"Bye cultist. I call it as I see it. I do not agree with the governor of Maine policy but trump has no business threatening her like that," Martina Navratilova wrote on X (formerly Twitter) earlier this year. "Also trump is an adjudicated rapist so not exactly a defender of women- he just hates all trans people. Other than his bootlicker [Caitlyn] Jenner."
More recently, the American legend implied that Trump and his associate, Elon Musk, were 'grifters' following the news of billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman being a leading nominee for the NASA administrator spot.
