President Trump has always wanted to be insulted Pope Leo XIV in response to his criticism of the Iran war and appeal for peace, marking a rare break between the leaders of the world’s most powerful country and the world’s largest Christian denomination.
But Leo criticized the Trump administration’s efforts to deport more people before and after his election as the leader of the Catholic Church. He told reporters in November that the treatment of immigrants was “extremely disrespectful,” which he echoed the views of his predecessorPope Francis.
Operation Epic Fury, which started on February 28 and the joint airstrikes of the US and Israel in Iran, has been the cause of the ongoing exchange of words between Pope Leo and Mr.
A day after the military operation began, the pope expressed “great concern” and urged the warring parties to “stop the violence before it descends into an irreparable abyss.” His words became sharper as the war continued, when Francis criticized the threat of Mr. Trump’s destruction of Iran’s civilization is “unacceptable” and urged citizens to “contact the authorities – political leaders, congressmen.”
The US and Iran they agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7, but Mr. Trump and Leo continued to trade barbs, with the president’s speech escalating “60 Minutes” segment that highlighted the pope’s criticism of mass deportations and war with Iran. During this phase, a group of US-based Catholic cardinals decried the war, saying it does not meet the definition of a just war under Catholic teaching.
April 12: Trump calls the pope “weak on crime” and “too liberal”
After watching the episode, Mr. Trump took to social media to go after Leo.
In a long letter to Truth Social, Mr. Trump criticized the pope as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he wrote. “And I don’t want a Pope criticizing the President of the United States because I did what I was elected to do, IN A LANDSLIDE, to set a Record Low Crime Numbers, and create the Greatest Market in History.”
Mr. Trump then said his return to the White House played a role Leo’s choice last year to lead the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, calling it a “shocking miracle.”
“He was not on the list to be Pope, and he was put there only by the Church because he was American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump,” the president wrote about the first American pope in history. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
He praised Leo’s brother, Louis Prevost, an outspoken Trump supporter who met the president in the Oval Office last year.
Mr. Trump ended his social media post by urging the pope to “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop feeding the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
The president doubled down on his criticism of Leo when he told reporters when he arrived at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida, saying, “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job.”
“I’m not a big fan of Papa Leo,” said Mr. “He’s a liberal, and he’s a man who doesn’t believe in crime prevention. He’s a man who doesn’t think we should play with a country that wants a nuclear weapon to blow up the world. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”
Over the course of the day, Mr. Trump faced criticism another matter of religion: An AI-generated image posted on social media that appears to depict the president as Jesus. He later insisted that the image did not show him as Jesus, but as “a doctor,” though he removed it a few hours later, telling CBS News that he “didn’t want anyone to be confused.”
April 13: Trump says he doesn’t think the pope “should get into politics,” Vance advises pope to “stick to moral issues”
Vice President JD Vance – who converted to Catholicism – joined the fray, telling Fox News that “in some cases, it would be better for the Vatican to stick to moral issues, stick to issues going on in the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to determining American public law. But when they disagree, they disagree.”
In a question-and-answer session at the University of Georgia, Vance said he liked when the pope commented on issues including abortion, immigration and war because it invited discussion. He challenged Leo on the statement the pope had made earlier about X, that God “has never been on the side of those who once carried the sword and today are dropping bombs.”
“How can you say that God is not on the side of those who carry the sword? He asked. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated the Holocaust camps and freed those innocent people?…I certainly think the answer is yes, and … I agree that Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide.”
While answering questions from reporters at the White House later that day, Mr. Trump said, “Pope Leo said the wrong things,” and said “he’s very much against what I’m doing about Iran.”
“I think he is very weak on crime and other things,” the president said.
Then, in a telephone interview and CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell, Mr. Trump said Leo was “wrong on the news.”
“I don’t think he should enter politics. I think maybe he learned from this,” he said.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian defended the pope, writing in X: “I condemn the insult of His Excellency in the name of the great nation of Iran, and I declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is unacceptable to any free person.
April 13: Leo responds that he has “no fear” about Trump
In the answer to the scope of mr. TrumpLeo said, “The things I say are certainly not intended to attack anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peaceful.’ “
“I’m not afraid of Trump’s administration, or speaking out loud about the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I came to do, what the church came to do,” he said. “We are not politicians, we do not deal with foreign policy in a way that he might understand, but I believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
April 14: Homan says cardinals should “get out of politics”
The president continued to go after Leo on Truth Social, writing, “Will someone tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent protesters, completely unarmed, in the last two months, and that Iran has a Nuclear bomb is totally unacceptable. Thank you for your attention to this issue. AMERICA IS BACK!!!”
Later in the day, White House border governor Tom Homan, who describes himself as a lifelong Catholic, told reporters that the cardinals who spoke on “60 Minutes” should “stay out of immigration.”
“I love the Catholic Church,” he said. “I just wish they would stick to fixing the church, because there are problems – I know because I am a member – and not get involved in politics.”
April 15: Mike Johnson is “surprised,” argues the war on Iran is a just war
GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, like Vance, also disputed Leo’s comments about war, particularly that Jesus does not hear the prayers of those who participate in war. He may have been talking about the Pope’s position on March 29, saying, “He does not listen to the prayers of those who fight the war, but rejects them.”
Johnson, an evangelical Christian, told reporters he was “a little surprised” by those comments and argued, “It’s a very well-settled issue of Christian theology: There is something called the doctrine of the Just War.”
The Archdiocese for the Military Services explains that the just war is the one that protects and is presented as a last resort: “The damage caused by the abuser…must be constant, great, and sure.” There must be “serious hope of success,” and “the use of arms must not produce greater evil and disorder than the evil to be eradicated.”
Johnson wanted to defend the president’s and vice president’s comments and actions in those terms and said their words showed “their understanding” from “the isolated briefs of the most pressing issues in the situation we’re facing, and the fact that you have a nation that has been a major sponsor of terrorism now that has lost that ability to them. That means, potentially, millions of terrorists will not save their lives killing innocent people.”
The speaker of the House also said “the pope or any religious leader can say whatever they want, but obviously, when you get into political waters, I think you have to expect a political response, and I think the pope got some of that.”
April 16: Trump says he has a “right to disagree” with the pope; Leo warns “those who deceive religion and the name of God”
Leo, who was traveling in Cameroon, wrote in X, “Woe to those who use religion and God’s own name for military, economic, and political gain, dragging what is holy into darkness and filth.”
Later in the afternoon, as Mr. Trump headed to Las Vegas, told reporters that he doesn’t care about the pope, and thinks he should speak his mind. But the president also said “it’s very important that the pope understands that Iran has killed 42,000 people,” referring to the unconfirmed number of protesters who have been killed in Iran since late last year.
The president also alleged that the pope “says Iran could have a nuclear weapon.”
There is no evidence that Leo allowed Iran to pursue a nuclear weapon, and the pope and other Catholic Church officials have traditionally voiced opposition to nuclear weapons.
Mr. Trump said they are “not fighting” and “I have the right to disagree” with the pope.
“This is the real world. It’s a bad world,” he said. “But in terms of the pope saying what he wants, he can do that.”
Asked if he could meet with Leo to patch things up, the president said, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”
