Trump feuds with Pope Leo XIV over Iran war and immigration
Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV for criticizing the US-Israeli war on Iran, calling him 'WEAK on crime' and 'terrible for foreign policy,' as tensions between the president and the first American pope escalate.
Objective Facts
President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV for his criticisms of the US-Israeli war on Iran, calling the leader of the Catholic Church 'WEAK on crime' and 'terrible for foreign policy'. Trump made these comments after Pope Leo condemned the war and pushed for negotiations toward a cease-fire, including condemning Trump's threat to destroy Iran's 'whole civilization' as 'truly unacceptable'. Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday night that 'Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician,' and claimed Leo's election happened 'because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump'. Pope Leo XIV on Monday strongly pushed back against Trump's criticism, telling reporters he has 'no fear of the Trump administration' and will continue appealing for peace rooted in the Gospel. Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, expressed disapproval, saying 'I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father'.
Left-Leaning Perspective
PBS NewsHour reported that Trump openly condemned Pope Leo after the pontiff criticized the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran, and noted the president's comments drew widespread criticism. Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, argued against Vice President Vance's position, stating 'I don't know any other more pressing moral issues than war and peace, than taking care of the poor, the sick, the homeless, the stranger,' and emphasized this is exactly what Pope Leo has been doing. Axios reported that leading U.S. cardinals including Cardinal Blase Cupich and Cardinal Robert McElroy have publicly supported Leo's position, with Cupich calling videos of bombings 'sickening' and McElroy questioning whether the war meets just-war doctrine, part of a broader chorus of U.S. Catholic leaders raising moral concerns. PBS News fact-checked Trump's claim that the pope supports Iran having nuclear weapons, finding this to be false as the pope has specifically spoken against nuclear weapons. Elise Ann Allen, a Rome-based correspondent for the Catholic media outlet Crux, told CNN that Trump was 'feeling threatened that Leo was emerging as a stronger figure on the international scene' and that Trump 'has to remember that it's the moderate Catholics who got him elected in both elections'. Progressive outlets like The New Republic argue that Republicans are turning on the Catholic Church to defend the president's warmongering, with Trump's attacks revealing desperation rather than legitimate policy disagreement, claiming Trump's characterizations—that the pope is 'weak on crime' and 'terrible for foreign policy'—are illegitimate since religious leaders are not responsible for crime rates or foreign policy. Left-leaning media suggests that Sean Hannity's critique of the pope being 'scripturally unserious' strikes at the heart of Catholic Church authority, providing a scriptural shield for those supporting aggressive foreign policy, resonating with conservative audiences that view Vatican calls for de-escalation as political interference. Left coverage emphasizes that Pope Leo is speaking from Gospel principles of peace, not as a political actor, and that Trump's response reveals his sensitivity to moral criticism.
Right-Leaning Perspective
Fox News reported that Trump accused Pope Leo XIV of being 'terrible' on foreign policy as the pontiff continues to criticize the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, with Trump saying the pope is 'weak on crime' and 'terrible for foreign policy' over his anti-war comments. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, appeared on Fox News and stated 'in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality...and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy'. Senator Lindsey Graham spoke directly to Pope Leo XIV on Fox News, telling him that he was 'miscalculating' by advocating for world peace. Trump told reporters the pope 'talks about fear of the Trump Administration, but doesn't mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church...had during COVID when they were arresting priests' and that 'He likes crime I guess. We don't like a pope who says it's OK to have a nuclear weapon'. Fox News host Sean Hannity questioned if Pope Leo has 'even read the Bible,' asking 'Has he ever heard of David and Goliath,' with those remarks seen as a rebuke aimed at Trump and his administration amid tensions involving Iran. Vice President Vance defended Trump's AI image depicting himself as Jesus, telling Fox News 'I think the president was posting a joke. And of course he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren't understanding his humor'. Right-leaning coverage emphasizes that Hannity's claim the pope is 'scripturally unserious' provides a scriptural shield for those supporting aggressive foreign policy, with the commentary having 'resonated with a conservative base that increasingly views the Vatican's calls for de-escalation as political interference,' and notes that 'both lines of criticism try to strip the Pope of authority, one by saying he should stay in his lane, the other by implying he does not understand his own book'. Right-wing analysis frames Pope Leo as overstepping his authority and intruding on matters of state security and foreign policy.
Deep Dive
This feud has been simmering since the Iran war began two months ago, with the back-and-forth culminating in the recent escalation. Pope Leo XIV, a studious and soft-spoken cleric, and Donald Trump, an unapologetically bellicose and pugilistic politician, have long been on a rhetorical collision course, and their disagreement over the war in Iran has escalated in spectacular fashion, showing how differently each see the conflict and its impact. In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo denounced the 'delusion of omnipotence' fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran on the same day the U.S. and Iran began face-to-face negotiations during a ceasefire, with Leo's tone and message appearing directed at Trump and U.S. officials who have boasted of military superiority and justified the war in religious terms. Douglas Kirner, who teaches American politics at Cornell University, says such pointed and public disagreement between a pope and a U.S. president is unprecedented, noting 'Past presidents have had their disagreements with popes on different issues...but to have it play out in a very public way on social media with the direct personal attacks. I don't think we've ever seen anything like this before'. The political stakes are substantial: polling suggests the pope is overwhelmingly popular with Americans, was the most popular national figure of 14 tested by Gallup, and Americans viewed him positively by a 5-to-1 margin, while Trump is at a low point politically with approval ratings in the 30s in some recent polls. Various surveys show Trump is losing support among Catholics even from white Catholics who voted for him in 2024, with a Pew Research Center survey in January finding that 46% of white Catholics supported Trump's agenda (down from 51% in 2025), while only 18% of Hispanic Catholics supported the president's agenda. The clash carries added weight because Leo XIV is the first American-born pope, making his unusually direct criticism of Trump's Iran and immigration positions rare Vatican criticism with immediate political resonance in the United States.
Regional Perspective
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a key Trump ally in Europe and a Catholic, strongly condemned the US president's comments, calling them 'unacceptable' and stating 'The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn all forms of war'. This represented a rare rebuke of Trump from Meloni, a conservative leader who has sought to serve as a bridge between the US president and European leaders, as she issued a statement supporting Pope Leo XIV's efforts for peace and reconciliation. The Italian Bishops' Conference expressed regret over Trump's words and underlined that the pope 'is not a political counterpart, but the successor of Peter, called to serve the Gospel, truth and peace'. Notably, even Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian intervened to defend the pope, saying 'I condemn the insult to Your Excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran, and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person'. This statement demonstrates that the feud between Trump and Pope Leo has transcended typical Vatican-US relations dynamics, with the Iranian government using the moment to align itself with the pope's peace message and to further distance itself from Trump's military posture. Italian politicians across the spectrum showed their solidarity with Leo—with Premier Giorgia Meloni sending a message of support for his peace mission while the leader of the main opposition party, Elly Schlein, was more direct, calling Trump's attacks 'extremely serious'. Regional coverage emphasizes the unusual nature of Trump's direct attack on a sitting pope and frames Leo's position as aligned with European and broader international sentiment for de-escalation in the Middle East.