President Donald Trump launched a public attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the first American-born pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a lengthy Truth Social post and follow-up remarks to reporters, marking an unprecedented moment in which a sitting U.S. president has entered open conflict with an American pope.
Trump’s comments escalated already high tensions between the president and Pope Leo, who has increasingly spoken out on Trump administration immigration policies and the ongoing U.S.-Israel war with Iran.
… came moments after a CBS News “60 Minutes” segment aired featuring top American Cardinals Robert McElroy, Jeffrey Tobin, and Blase Cupich echoing the pope’s criticisms of several Trump administration policies.
Pope Leo had become increasingly vocal about the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran, condemning Trump’s rhetoric and threats against the people of Iran as “truly unacceptable.”
That comment was prompted by Trump’s threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight” in the hours before a two-week ceasefire with Iran was struck.
Speaking to some 10,000 worshippers in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, Leo called on world leaders to “sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned, and deadly actions are decided.”
Trump responded with a 334-word post on Truth Social. In it, he took direct aim at the pope on multiple fronts including Iran, Venezuela, immigration, and COVID-era church closures.
Trump claimed that Leo “wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump,” adding, “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
Trump also said he likes Leo’s elder brother Louis Prevost “much better” than the pope himself, claiming Louis is “all MAGA.”
Trump concluded his post with a direct rebuke: “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church.”
When pressed by reporters upon landing at Joint Base Andrews, Trump showed no signs of softening his position. “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,” Trump said. “We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon. I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo.”
The dispute marks an unprecedented moment in American history as never before has a sitting U.S. president been in open conflict with an American pope.
Experts say it represents a broader inflection point for American Christianity, pitting Trump’s nationalist politics against the Catholic Church’s centuries-old tradition of international humanitarian norms.
The feud carries significant implications for the roughly 70 million Catholics in the United States.
Both Trump and his Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have invoked God in public messaging during the Iran conflict, with Hegseth framing the war effort as divinely supported and even using scriptural justification.
The pope’s calls for peace have put him on a direct collision course with that narrative.
Pope Leo is scheduled to depart Monday for an 11-day trip to Africa.
The Vatican has not issued an official response to Trump’s remarks as of early Monday morning.
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