President slams Pope Leo XIV as ‘weak’ after US, Israel, Iran war comments

Pope Leo

Trump launched an extraordinary attack on Leo on Sunday evening (Monday afternoon AEST), saying he did not think the world leader of the Catholic Church was “doing a very good job”, while also suggesting the Pope should “stop targeting the radical left”.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on crime, and terrible on foreign policy,” the president wrote in his post, adding, “I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

Pope Leo

“To put my message on the same level as what the president has tried to do here, I think I don’t understand what the message of the Gospel is,” Leo told AP aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria.

“And I’m sorry to hear that, but I will continue with what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”

The first US-born pope in history emphasized that he was not making a direct attack on Trump or anyone else with his general call for peace and criticism of the “delusion of omnipotence” fueling Iran’s wars and other conflicts around the world.

“I’m not going to debate. The things I say are certainly not intended as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,'” Leo said.

“I will not shy away from proclaiming the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways to build bridges of peace and reconciliation, and to look for ways to avoid war whenever possible.”

“Today, as we all know, there was a threat against the entire Iranian people. This is truly unacceptable,” Leo said as he left his country home in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome.

Trump, who once said he was “the first American pope,” called the pope “weak” and “terrible” and made confusing claims regarding COVID, Venezuela and Barack Obama.

“We don’t like a pope who says it’s okay to have a nuclear weapon,” he later told reporters.

“I don’t like it. I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo.”

He also said, “I don’t want a Pope criticizing a President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected to do in a LANDSLIDE.”

He also claimed that Leo was only chosen because he was president.

“Leo should be grateful because as everyone knows he was a shocking surprise.

“He was not on any list to become 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.

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

“It’s such an honor to know that he’s the first American pope,” Trump, who is Christian but not Catholic, said in Truth Social.

“What an excitement and what a great honor for our country. I look forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. It will be a very meaningful moment!”

Trump attended Pope Francis’ funeral

The US Pope also recently urged Americans and other “people of good will” to contact their political leaders and congressional representatives to demand that they reject war and work for peace.

He used his Easter call to plead for “peace and to reject war, especially a war that many people have said is an unjust war, that continues to escalate and that solves nothing.”

Leo also publicly called out Trump, saying he hoped the US president was really “looking for an exit.”

Also last week, Leo did not mention Trump by name, but in comments in English he urged people to contact their political leaders and congressional representatives “to ask them, to tell them that they must work for peace and reject war.”

He said the message to political leaders should be: “Come back to the table, let’s talk, let’s look for solutions in a peaceful way and, above all, let’s remember the innocent children, the elderly, the sick, so many people who have already been or will be victims of this ongoing warfare.”

The Vatican is particularly concerned about how the conflict in Iran has expanded into a new war in Lebanon between Israel and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group.

The Vatican fears for Christians in southern Lebanon.

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