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
Joint Base Andrews (United States) (AFP) - 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.
“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.”
On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders 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!”
Trump reiterated his comments to reporters with a post on Truth Social saying: “I don’t want a Pope who think it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
Washington and the Vatican have recently denied 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.
US President Donald Trump said Sunday he is not a fan of Pope Leo, who has called for peace
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 Saturday with US Vice President JD Vance telling reporters after a marathon-session of talks that Washington has delivered its “final and best offer.”