Pope Leo XIV on Monday said he will continue to speak against the war in West Asia after US President Donald Trump launched a rare direct attack on the Catholic Church leader, calling him “weak" and “terrible for foreign policy."
Speaking to Reuters aboard a papal flight to Algeria, the first American pope said the Christian message was being abused. “I don’t want to get into a debate with him (Trump). I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing," he said.
“I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems," he added. “Too many people are suffering in the world today. I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way."
He further said that he did not look at his role as being political. Pope Leo, originally from Chicago, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
In a peace appeal on Saturday, Leo urged world leaders to end what he called the “madness of war" as American and Iranian delegations met in Islamabad for high-level talks aimed at ending the war, which ended without any agreement. The pope decried the use of religious language to justify war and said a “delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us is becoming increasingly unpredictable".
In an apparent response to Pope Leo, Trump launched an unusual and highly personal attack on the Catholic Church leader, calling him “weak on crime" and “terrible on foreign policy".
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear" of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention 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, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart," he said on the Truth Social platform.
Trump said he did not want a pope who criticised American policies, adding that Leo was only appointed as church leader because of the US president. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me," he added.
Catholics on social media quickly lambasted Trump for attacking the leader of their Church. “Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls," said Archbishop Paul S Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Trump also had a rocky relationship with Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, who criticised Trump’s immigration policy proposals when he first ran for president and suggested Trump was “not a Christian."
Notably, Catholics account for about 20–22% of the population of the United States, a majority of whom voted for Trump in the last presidential election.
