President Trump has been lobbing insults at Pope Leo XIV in response to his criticisms of the war in Iran and appeals for peace, marking an unusually pronounced rupture between the leaders of the world’s most powerful country and the world’s largest Christian denomination.
But Leo criticized the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts both before and after he was elected leader of the Catholic Church. He told reporters in November that the treatment of immigrants is “extremely disrespectful,” echoing the views of his predecessor, Pope Francis.
Operation Epic Fury, which began on Feb. 28 with joint U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, served as the catalyst for the ongoing exchange of words between Pope Leo and Mr. Trump.
The day after the military operation began, the pontiff expressed “deep concern” and urged the warring parties to “stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss.” His words grew sharper as the war continued, with Francis condemning Mr. Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization as “unacceptable” and urging citizens to “contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen.”
The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on April 7, but Mr. Trump and Leo have continued to trade barbs, with the president’s rhetoric escalating following a “60 Minutes” segment that highlighted the pontiff’s criticisms of the Trump administration’s mass deportations and war with Iran. During the segment, a group of U.S.-based Catholic cardinals skewered the war, saying it did not meet the definition of a just war under Catholic doctrine.
April 12: Trump calls pope “weak on crime” and “very liberal”
After watching the segment, Mr. Trump took to social media to go after Leo.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Mr. Trump lambasted the pope as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he wrote. “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.”
Mr. Trump then claimed his return to the White House played a role in Leo’s election last year to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, calling it 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,” the president wrote of the first American pope in history. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
He praised Leo’s brother, Louis Prevost, an outspoken Trump supporter who met with the president in the Oval Office last year.
Mr. Trump concluded his social media post by urging the pontiff to “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!”
The president doubled down on his criticisms of Leo in comments to reporters when he arrived at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida, saying, “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job.”
“I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime. He’s a man that doesn’t think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”
Late in the day, Mr. Trump faced criticism over another religious matter: An AI-generated image that he posted to social media that appeared to depict the president in the likeness of Jesus. He later insisted the image showed him not as Jesus, but as a “doctor,” though he deleted the post hours later, telling CBS News he “didn’t want to have anybody be confused.”
April 13: Trump says he doesn’t think pope “should be getting into politics,” Vance advises pope to “stick to matters of morality”
Vice President JD Vance — who converted to Catholicism — entered the fray, telling Fox News that “in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy. But when they’re in conflict, they’re in conflict.”
In a Q&A session at the University of Georgia, Vance said he liked it when the pope commented on issues including abortion, immigration and war because it invites conversation. He challenged Leo on a statement the pope had previously made on X, that God “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
“How can you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” he asked. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those innocent people?…I certainly think the answer is yes, and…I agree Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide.”
While taking questions from reporters at the White House later that day, Mr. Trump said, “Pope Leo said things that are wrong,” and said he is “very much against what I’m doing with regards to Iran.”
“I think he’s very weak on crime and other things,” the president said.
Then, in a phone interview with CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell, Mr. Trump said Leo is “wrong on the issues.”
“I don’t think he should be getting into politics. I think he probably learned that from this,” he said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian came to the pope’s defense, writing on X: “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.”
April 13: Leo responds that he has “no fear” of Trump
In response to Mr. Trump’s broadsides, Leo said, “The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.'”
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” he said. “We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker. “
April 14: Homan says cardinals should “stay out of politics”
The president continued to go after Leo on Truth Social, writing, “Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable. Thank you for your attention to this matter. AMERICA IS BACK!!!”
Later in the day, White House border czar Tom Homan, describing himself as a lifelong Catholic, told reporters that the cardinals who spoke out on “60 Minutes” should “stay out of immigration.”
“I love the Catholic Church,” he said. “I just wish they’d stick to fixing the church, because there’s issues — I know because I’m a member — and stay out of politics.”
April 15: Mike Johnson “taken aback,” argues Iran war is a just war
GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson, like Vance, also disputed Leo’s remarks about war, in particular that Jesus does not hear the prayers of those who engage in war. He may have been referring to the pope’s post from March 29, which said, “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
Johnson, an evangelical Christian, told reporters he “was taken a little bit aback” by that remark and argued, “It is a very well-settled matter of Christian theology: There’s something called the Just War doctrine.”
The Archdiocese for the Military Services explains that a just war is one that is defensive and launched as a last resort: “The damage inflicted by the aggressor…must be lasting, grave, and certain.” It must have “a serious prospect of success,” and “the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.”
Johnson sought to defend the president’s and vice president’s comments and actions in those terms and said their remarks reflect “their understanding” from “classified briefings of the stakes that are so high in the situation that we’re facing, and the fact that you have the nation that was the largest sponsor of terrorism now having had that ability taken away from them. That means potentially, millions of innocent people will be able to keep their lives and not get killed by terrorists. That’s a good thing.”
The House speaker also said a “pontiff or any religious leader can say anything they want, but obviously, if you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response, and I think the pope’s received some of that.”
April 16: Trump says he “has a right to disagree” with pope; Leo warns “those who manipulate religion and the very name of God”
Leo, who was traveling in Cameroon, posted on X, “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
Later in the afternoon, as Mr. Trump was departing for Las Vegas, he told reporters he has no personal issue with the pope, and thinks he should speak his mind. But the president again said it’s “very important the pope understands Iran killed 42,000 people,” in reference to the unverified number of protesters who have been killed in Iran since late last year.
The president also alleged that the pope “says Iran can have a nuclear weapon.”
There is no evidence that Leo endorsed Iran seeking a nuclear weapon, and the pope and other Catholic Church officials have traditionally voiced opposition to nuclear weapons.
Mr. Trump said they’re “not fighting” and “I have a right to disagree” with the pope.
“This is the real world. It’s a nasty world,” he said. “But as far as the pope and saying what he wants, he can do that.”
Asked if he’d meet with Leo to iron things out, the president said, “I don’t think that’s necessary.”