Trump criticises Pope Leo; pontiff says Christian message is being ‘abused’

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WASHINGTON/ROME – US President Donald Trump has called Pope Leo “terrible” in an unusual, direct attack on the pontiff, who responded by vowing to continue denouncing war and suffering.

Mr Trump’s comments came after the Pope had spoken out, with growing force, against the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Mr Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late on April 12.

Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the US, responded on April 13 by saying he would continue denouncing war, and that the Christian message, rooted in the primacy of peace, was being “abused”.

‘Someone has to stand up,’ Pope says

“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,” Pope Leo told Reuters aboard a papal flight to Algiers, where he is embarking on a 10-day tour to four African countries.

“Too many people are suffering in the world today,” he said. “Too many innocent people are being killed... someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.”

Catholics on social media lambasted Mr Trump for attacking the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church, who they believe is the successor of St Peter, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles.

“There is no ambiguity about the situation now,” Mr Massimo Faggioli, an expert on the papacy, told Reuters, comparing the comments to efforts by the leaders of Germany and Italy during World War II to draw the late Pope Pius XII to support their causes. He added: “Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly.”

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement: “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.”

Trump says Leo should ‘get his act together’

Pope Leo, originally from Chicago, is known for choosing his words carefully. He has ​emerged as an outspoken critic of the conflict with Iran in recent weeks and decried the “madness of war” in a peace appeal on April 11.

In 2025, he questioned whether the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies were in line with the Church’s pro-life teachings, and called for a “deep reflection” about the way migrants are being treated in the United States.

“Someone who says, ‘I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States’, I don’t know if that’s pro-life,” the pontiff said in September.

Mr Trump wrote in his post on April 12 that “Leo should get his act together as Pope”, later telling reporters he was “not a big fan” of the pontiff. The post also said Pope Leo was “weak on nuclear weapons”, several days after the Pope said the US President’s threat to destroy Iranian civilisation was “truly unacceptable”.

Pope says he is not a politician

In a speech on Palm Sunday in March in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, the Pope said God rejected the prayers of leaders who start wars and have their “hands full of blood,” calling the conflict in Iran “atrocious”.

Pope Leo has also called on Mr Trump to find an “off-ramp” to end the conflict and “decrease the amount of violence”.

In his post, Mr Trump suggested that Pope Leo was only elected to lead the Catholic Church in 2025 “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump”.

Pope Leo said on April 13 that he was not a politician and did not want to be drawn into a debate with Mr Trump.

“The message of the Church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the Peacemakers. I do not look at my role as being political, a politician,” he said.

Mr Trump also had a rocky relationship with Pope Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, who criticised Mr Trump’s immigration policy proposals when he first ran for president and suggested Mr Trump was “not a Christian”.

Mr Trump had called Pope Francis “disgraceful” in early 2016. REUTERS