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President Donald Trump publicly attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media Sunday evening, calling the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a lengthy post that appeared to be reacting to the Holy Fatherʼs recent appeals for peace and an end to war.
In comments to reporters at Joint Base Andrews shortly afterward, Trump said: “I donʼt think heʼs doing a very good job. … I am not a fan of Pope Leo.” He added: “Heʼs a very liberal person.”
Trump accused Leo of being soft on Iran and criticized the popeʼs opposition to U.S. military operations. “I donʼt want a Pope who thinks itʼs OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the president wrote. He also criticized the pope for opposing the U.S. intervention in Venezuela that ousted President Nicolás Maduro in January.
Leo has not said Iran should possess nuclear weapons. He has called the U.S.-Israel war in Iran “unjust” and on April 7 called Trumpʼs threat to destroy an entire “civilization” in Iran “truly unacceptable.”
Trump also claimed credit for Leoʼs election to the papacy in May 2025, writing: “He wasnʼt on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American.” He added: “If I wasnʼt in the White House, Leo wouldnʼt be in the Vatican.”
The post on Truth Social came hours before Leo was scheduled to depart Monday for an 11-day trip to four African countries, and one day after the pope presided over a globally broadcast prayer vigil for peace at St. Peterʼs Basilica.
The president said he preferred the popeʼs older brother, Louis Prevost, a Port Charlotte, Florida, resident who has described himself as a “MAGA type.” “I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA,” Trump wrote.
Trump also criticized Leo for meeting April 9 with David Axelrod, a former chief strategist for President Barack Obama, calling Axelrod “a LOSER from the Left.” The Vatican has previously confirmed the audience but did not disclose what was discussed.
The public clash comes after weeks of growing friction between the White House and Catholic leaders since the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran on Feb. 28.
Pope Leoʼs appeals for peace intensified over Holy Week, culminating in Saturdayʼs vigil, where he denounced a “delusion of omnipotence” and warned that “the holy Name of God” was being “dragged into discourses of death.”
At a special Mass for Peace held in Washington on April 11, Cardinal Robert McElroy argued that the current war fails to meet the strict criteria of just war theory, particularly in light of civilian suffering and the risk of disproportionate harm.
The Vatican has not yet publicly responded to Trumpʼs post. The pope is expected to arrive in Algiers on Monday.
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President Trump is right. Pope Leo, the bishops and all clergy have no business engaging in politics. Our hierarchy has a difficult enough time witnessing to Christ to the billion+ Catholics across the globe and to those ŵho do not yet know Christ. The hubris of our hierarchy will damage the Catholic Church profoundly if they don’t stop meddling in worldly politics.
Let’s remember: Jesus Christ was no politician. When the people wanted Him as a foil to the Roman Emperor, He demurred. Christ made no pronouncement about civic affairs. In fact, He explicitly told us to “Render unto Caesar…” Jesus Christ had no central banking system fraught with the corruption of the Vatican. Jesus Christ had no armed guards protecting Him. Jesus Christ had no law courts to try cases of errant bishops, cardinals and other clergy. Jesus Christ didn’t have a publishing arm to disseminate His teachings. Jesus Christ did not have a Secretary of State and the equivalent of ambassadors to countries across the globe.
The Church needs to return to Jesus Christ. The Church needs to stay out of politics. The Church needs to attend to God’s work, not Satan’s. It is in grave danger if it does not.
As a practicing Catholic (and a bad one I’m sure), while Trump seems like 80% my friend and 20% my enemy, the Holy Father seems like 20% my friend and 80% my enemy, which is sad enough. To me, it’s also sad that a non-Catholic seems to understand some Catholic doctrine better than an “Augustinian Pope”.
The Holy Father can promote peace all he wants; what he cannot do is subtly promote pacifism.
I suppose it’s to be expected when the Holy Father says basically “I’m not prolife if I support the death penalty”. It makes me almost ashamed to have an American as the Pope.
God have Mercy on us please.
The power of words…Trump’s rhetoric to “destroy a Civilization” was certainly over the top and not calibrated to enlist the minds and hearts of Iran’s subjects (not real citizens), while the diplomatically loaded “delusion of omnipotence” sounds like it might have come from the inner churnings of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Likely blackmail by an Iran with a nuclear weapon is clearly not an option, but neither is some kind of China-style “provisional agreement” with a throwback jihadist command center masquerading as a modern nation-state.
As a thought experiment, as if thought mattered, it’s almost as if the contemporary world is caught in the aftermath of eighty years ago when clarity was dismissed on the cross-cultural misunderstanding of “unconditional surrender” and then of “mokusatsu.”
As a consequence of a few plastic words—rather than a few other words—was the entire era of the bipolar nuclear arms race an avoidable ingredient to a lesser Cold War? And, now, from a rogue “state,” the further proliferation of nuclear weapons…closure of Hormuz, similar to the closure a millennium ago of the pilgrimage routes to Jerusalem.
So, the Pope should be MAGA? Perhaps J D Vance, a Catholic for a couple of years can visit Rome and instruct Pope Leo on how to be a “good Catholic?” The Administration is becoming pathological.
The most generous thing one can say about Trump is that he has absolutely no idea in the world about the role of a pope.
This says it all
https://x.com/CarriePrejean1/status/2043533793093681464