BREAKING: Trump just attacked Pope Leo, calling America’s first-ever pope “terrible for foreign policy”
Trump went after Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, publicly attacking the first American pope over his criticism of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran and his broader stance on nuclear weapons and immigration. The president made his feelings clear to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, and then amplified his grievances on Truth Social for good measure.
“We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters, adding that he is “not a fan of Pope Leo.” He accused the pontiff of being soft on crime and damaging to American foreign policy interests, and claimed without evidence that Leo was not on any shortlist to become pope and was only elevated to the position because church leaders thought an American pope would be easier for the White House to manage.
Pope Leo, who has emerged as a moral voice on the Iran conflict, drew Trump’s ire last week after condemning the president’s rhetoric and threats toward the Iranian people as completely unacceptable. Leo has been consistent in his opposition to nuclear brinkmanship and military escalation, positions that put him squarely at odds with the current administration’s war posture.
Trump’s Truth Social post accused Leo of thinking it was acceptable for Iran to possess nuclear weapons, criticized him for objecting to U.S. military action against Venezuela, and made the extraordinary complaint that a pope had dared to criticize an American president at all. “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States,” Trump wrote.
The attack drew immediate attention given that Leo is not only the leader of the Catholic Church but an American citizen, making Trump’s broadside against him a remarkable moment even by this administration’s standards.
For a president who has long courted Catholic voters and positioned himself as a defender of religious values, going to war with the pope carries obvious political risk. But Trump, characteristically, showed no interest in restraint.