As tensions mount between Pope Leo XIV and President Trump over the Iran war, the clash of ideologies highlights the role of faith in political affairs.
Image: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP
The relationship between Washington and the Vatican has deteriorated after the first American pope slammed the US president over the Iran war. Pope Leo XIV said Donald Trump's belligerence was "truly unacceptable."
The 70-year-old pontiff from Chicago urged world leaders to end what he called the "madness of war" over the weekend. This prompted the 79-year-old Trump to fire back, claiming that the Pope enjoys crime and is not doing a good job.
Asked by a reporter why he attacked Pope Leo, Trump replied, "I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess. We don’t like a pope who says it’s ok to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is ok. I am not a fan of Pope Leo.''
At a special prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope decried the use of religious language to justify war and said a “delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us … is becoming increasingly unpredictable”.
He went on, saying, “Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned.”
The pope also referred to the Church’s opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, when the late Pope John Paul II appealed for peace four days before the conflict began.
“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
The pope, who on March 30 said God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have “hands full of blood,” denounced again on Saturday the use of Christian language to justify war.
“The balance within the human family has been severely destabilised,” said Leo. “Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”
The pope’s earlier comments were interpreted by conservative Catholic commentators as aimed at US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has invoked Christian language to justify the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that initiated the war.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump praised Leo's brother, Louis, whom he hosted at the White House last year, and he also took credit for Leo's election as pope.
"Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He wasn't on any list to be 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," Trump wrote.
In his post, Trump also accused the pope of being "WEAK on crime," and said that his pontificate is bad for the church.
"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. It's hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!" Trump wrote.
Trump published a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the pope "terrible on Foreign Policy," citing Leo's opposition to the ongoing war in Iran and U.S. military action in Venezuela and stating that his pontificate is hurting the church.
"I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday night. "I don't want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History."
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray for victory "in the name of Jesus Christ." When Trump was asked whether he thought God approved of the war, he said, "I do, because God is good — because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of."
The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of iconic Baptist evangelist Billy Graham, said of Trump that God "raised him up for such a time as this." And Graham prayed for victory so Iranians can "be set free from these Islamic lunatics."
Leo countered in his Palm Sunday message that God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them." He referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that "even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood."
CNN, on the other hand, said that the Pope said on Monday that he is "not afraid of the Trump administration" and will keep speaking out even after Trump criticised him for his stance on the war with Iran.
THE STAR