Pope Leo
Alberto Pizzoli | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized the American-born Roman Catholic Pope Leo XIV for criticizing the United States’ war with Iran.
“I don’t want a Pope criticizing the President of the United States because I am doing exactly what I was elected to do,” the president said in a post on Truth Social.
President Trump has linked the pope’s accession to his own return to the presidency.
“Leo should be grateful because, as we all know, he was a shocking figure,” Trump said. “He wasn’t on any list of candidates for pope, and the church only put him there because he’s American and thought that was the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
Referring to a recent meeting between the pope and a former political aide to President Barack Obama, Trump said Leo “is soft on crime and nuclear weapons and that doesn’t sit well with me. I also don’t like the fact that he’s meeting with Obama sympathizers like left-wing loser David Axelrod, who was one of the people who wanted churchgoers and clergy arrested.”
Leo, a Chicago native and the first American-born pope, condemned President Trump’s war effort against Iran.
“Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with displays of force! Enough with war! True strength is found in the service of life,” Leo said on Saturday, according to CBS News.
The pope also said President Trump’s recent threat to destroy “the entire civilization” of Iran was “truly unacceptable.”
Leo also used his Easter message to call for peace.
“Let those who have arms lay down their weapons! Let those who have the power to wage war choose peace! Not peace imposed by force, but peace through dialogue! Not a desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” he said.
Leo and other church leaders have also been harsh critics of President Trump’s domestic immigration policies at times.
The Pope endorsed the November message of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying he was “disturbed by the growing climate of fear and anxiety among our people over issues of profiling and immigration enforcement.”
“We, the bishops, advocate for meaningful reform of our nation’s immigration laws and procedures,” the bishops wrote. “Human dignity and national security are not mutually exclusive. Both are possible when good people work together.”
