Trump says ‘not a big fan’ of Pope Leo after his anti-war message
ByAFP
April 13, 2026
US President Donald Trump slammed the Pope's anti-war message as he returned to the White House after a weekend of golf and UFC fighting - Copyright AFP ATTA KENARE
US President Donald Trump told reporters Sunday that he is “not a big fan” of Pope Leo XIV, after the global leader of Catholics made a plea for peace amid the war in the Middle East.
The 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders on Saturday to end the violence, telling worshippers at St Peter’s Basilica: “Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
“I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
He accused the pontiff of “toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.”
Trump later doubled down on his comments to reporters with a post on Truth Social, saying: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he said.
The president added that Leo had only been elected “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 later posted an AI-generated image seemingly depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
In the image, the president appears dressed in red and white robes as he cures a man with his healing hand. The American flag is shown over his shoulder.
Trump and the White House have previously shared AI-generated images, including one that showed the president dressed as the pope.
– Rejecting a rift –
Washington and the Vatican have rejected reports of a rift.
On Friday, a Vatican official denied reports that a top Pentagon official gave the church’s envoy to the United States a “bitter lecture” over Pope Leo’s criticisms of the Trump administration.
The story in the Free Press — which the Pentagon had already dismissed as “distorted” — reported that Cardinal Christophe Pierre was summoned in January to the Pentagon, where he was given a dressing-down by US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby.
The military official reportedly told the cardinal that the United States “has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.”
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement “the account presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth in any way.”
While both parties insist the meeting was cordial, the Holy See and the White House have openly been at odds over the Trump administration’s hardline mass deportation campaign — which the pope called “inhuman” — and the use of military force in the Middle East and Venezuela.
When Trump made genocidal threats against Iran Tuesday — saying “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” — the pontiff slammed the “truly unacceptable” statement and urged parties to “come back to the table” for negotiations.
Earlier this month, Pope Leo hailed the news of a ceasefire between the United States and Iran as a “sign of real hope.”
But peace talks between the United States and Iran, held in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, ended abruptly and without a resolution on Saturday, with US Vice President JD Vance telling reporters after a marathon-session of talks that Washington has delivered its “final and best offer.”
Trump rages at 'weak' Pope Leo XIV over criticisms: 'Leo should get his act together!'
Robert Davis
April 12, 2026
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after disembarking Air Force One as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump raged at Pope Leo XIV in a Truth Social post on Sunday night after the Pope criticized the president.
Pope Leo has been an outspoken critic of Trump's war with Iran, and called the president's threat to destroy the Iranian civilization "truly unacceptable." The Pope has also rebuked the president's immigration policies.
"Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
Trump responded to Pope Leo's criticisms on Sunday on Truth Social.
"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," Trump wrote. "I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!"
"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country," Trump added. "And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes 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."
"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 continued.
Robert Davis
April 12, 2026
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks after disembarking Air Force One as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., April 12, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Donald Trump raged at Pope Leo XIV in a Truth Social post on Sunday night after the Pope criticized the president.
Pope Leo has been an outspoken critic of Trump's war with Iran, and called the president's threat to destroy the Iranian civilization "truly unacceptable." The Pope has also rebuked the president's immigration policies.
"Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said on Saturday, according to the Associated Press. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”
Trump responded to Pope Leo's criticisms on Sunday on Truth Social.
"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," Trump wrote. "I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!"
"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country," Trump added. "And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes 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."
"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 continued.
Robert Davis
April 12, 2026
RAW STORY
Political analysts and observers mocked President Donald Trump on Sunday night after he issued a lengthy diatribe against Pope Leo XIV.
Pope Leo has sharply criticized the Trump administration's immigration policies and its war with Iran. Those criticisms seem to have gotten under Trump's skin, as he raged at the "weak" Pope for his handling of "crime" and "foreign policy" in a new post on Truth Social.
"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump wrote. "I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country."
"And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes 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," he added. "Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. 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 (sic) in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican."
Political analysts and observers reacted on social media.
"Bro, go to bed," Rep. Malcom Kenyatta, a Democrat in Pennsylvania, posted on X.
"I've never been closer to converting to Catholicism than this moment," physician Eric Strong posted on Bluesky. "I have absolutely no intention of ever doing so - but this is still the closest I've been."
"Trump is a f------ lunatic," writer Polly Sigh posted on X.
"Way to build coalitions. Attack the Pope!" writer Wajahat Ali posted on X.
Op-Ed: Trump vs Pope is not a fight Trump can win.
By Paul Wallis
EDITOR AT LARGE
By Paul Wallis
EDITOR AT LARGE
DIGITAL JOURNAL
April 13, 2026
Pope Leo painted a grim picture of the current state of the world during a prayer vigil for peace at St Peter's Basilica - Copyright AFP Filippo MONTEFORTE
Americans seem to think that the rest of the world is some sort of sideshow. 8 billion people think otherwise.
The world didn’t elect Trump. They’re not under his jurisdiction. Nor are Canada, Greenland, Europe, or the rest of the world, including the Vatican and the Pope, the most recent subject of a Trump tirade.
You’d think otherwise from Trump’s stated views. The Pope is accused of being “weak on crime, weak on nuclear weapons”.
Let’s leave out the fully justified sarcasm. The Pope doesn’t have the Epstein files on his To Do list, nor a plague of lawsuits dating back years. The Pope isn’t presiding over the biggest, dirtiest, most crime-ridden money laundry on Earth in conjunction with global organized crime that makes trillions a year. Trump has never even mentioned organized crime in either term.
The Pope isn’t even threatening to destroy civilizations. The guy should obviously get out more and mix with the real conservative geniuses who selflessly destroy their own countries with or without wars.
The Pope is also accused of catering to the Radical Left, that omnipresent, vicious global threat that never seems to do anything at all. The same Radical Left we’ve been calling “leftovers” for decades now, based on their equally dated rhetoric. Catering may even go so far as a feeble smile and an overpriced avocado sandwich.
Trump also posted a truly nauseating picture of himself as a saviour-like figure healing the sick by laying on of AI-generated glowing hands. Some might call it heresy. Others might call it bad taste in a country maimed by medical costs.
The world’s 1.4 billion Catholics may not be impressed by all this.
Neither is anyone else.
Even Murdoch’s News Group is calling it “weird”. According to the quote in that link, the Pope “likes crime’. That News article is interesting because it uses the same misplaced capitalizations that Trump includes in every statement. It may well be verbatim to some extent.
Trump was elected to be President of the United States.
Nowhere else.
Nobody else.
We’ll see how good he is at that if the 2026 budget goes through with its two trillion overspend. If all the court orders don’t destroy him. If the Epstein files and associated baggage suddenly turn into fiction.
There are roughly as many Catholics in the US as Trump’s entire voter base in 2024.
Trump is famously not good with numbers.
I just want to see the numbers when they read the will.
April 13, 2026
Pope Leo painted a grim picture of the current state of the world during a prayer vigil for peace at St Peter's Basilica - Copyright AFP Filippo MONTEFORTE
Americans seem to think that the rest of the world is some sort of sideshow. 8 billion people think otherwise.
The world didn’t elect Trump. They’re not under his jurisdiction. Nor are Canada, Greenland, Europe, or the rest of the world, including the Vatican and the Pope, the most recent subject of a Trump tirade.
You’d think otherwise from Trump’s stated views. The Pope is accused of being “weak on crime, weak on nuclear weapons”.
Let’s leave out the fully justified sarcasm. The Pope doesn’t have the Epstein files on his To Do list, nor a plague of lawsuits dating back years. The Pope isn’t presiding over the biggest, dirtiest, most crime-ridden money laundry on Earth in conjunction with global organized crime that makes trillions a year. Trump has never even mentioned organized crime in either term.
The Pope isn’t even threatening to destroy civilizations. The guy should obviously get out more and mix with the real conservative geniuses who selflessly destroy their own countries with or without wars.
The Pope is also accused of catering to the Radical Left, that omnipresent, vicious global threat that never seems to do anything at all. The same Radical Left we’ve been calling “leftovers” for decades now, based on their equally dated rhetoric. Catering may even go so far as a feeble smile and an overpriced avocado sandwich.
Trump also posted a truly nauseating picture of himself as a saviour-like figure healing the sick by laying on of AI-generated glowing hands. Some might call it heresy. Others might call it bad taste in a country maimed by medical costs.
The world’s 1.4 billion Catholics may not be impressed by all this.
Neither is anyone else.
Even Murdoch’s News Group is calling it “weird”. According to the quote in that link, the Pope “likes crime’. That News article is interesting because it uses the same misplaced capitalizations that Trump includes in every statement. It may well be verbatim to some extent.
Trump was elected to be President of the United States.
Nowhere else.
Nobody else.
We’ll see how good he is at that if the 2026 budget goes through with its two trillion overspend. If all the court orders don’t destroy him. If the Epstein files and associated baggage suddenly turn into fiction.
There are roughly as many Catholics in the US as Trump’s entire voter base in 2024.
Trump is famously not good with numbers.
I just want to see the numbers when they read the will.
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