The confrontation between the church and the White House escalated Sunday night when President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak” on crime and “terrible” for foreign policy.
Trump’s outburst followed Leo’s vocal criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28. The Pope had described Trump’s threat to eliminate Iranian civilization as “unacceptable.”
“Pope Leo is WEAK on crime and terrible for foreign policy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that the Pope spoke of “fear” of the Trump Administration but ignored the “FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services.”
Trump escalated his attack, saying he did not want a Pope who thinks it’s acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon or who objects to American action against Venezuela — which Trump described as a country sending vast amounts of drugs into the U.S. and “emptying their prisons—including murderers, drug dealers, and killers—into our country.”
Pope Leo had condemned the U.S. operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and urged for a more peaceful global order. The Vatican’s intervention drew a sharp Washington response: Elbridge Colby, a senior Pentagon official, summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States.
Trump’s post came a day after Leo denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” and the “idolatry of self” he said were fueling the US-Israel conflict, comments many interpreted as directed at the U.S. president.
Defending his record, Trump said he was doing what he was elected to do — claiming record-low crime numbers and “the greatest stock market in history.” He also criticized the Pope for appealing directly to American Catholics, urging them to contact their congressional representatives to press for an end to the war — a move the White House saw as bypassing U.S. political channels.
Trump praised the Pope’s brother, Louis Prevost, calling him “all MAGA” and saying he preferred him to Leo. He told the Pope to “get his act together,” to stop catering to the “radical left,” and to focus on being a “Great Pope, not a Politician.” Trump also shared an AI-generated image portraying himself in a Jesus-like manner.
