(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV for his criticisms of the US-Israeli war on Iran, calling the leader of the Catholic Church “WEAK on crime.”
The American-born pope has issued a series of rebukes to his leadership, most recently challenging the administration’s argument that God is on the side of the US in the conflict with Iran.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said in the social media post. “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.”
Moments later, Trump posted a picture to social media that echoed images of Jesus, depicting himself in robes healing a sick patient surrounded by a medical worker and military members.
Amid the conflict in Iran, the pontiff wrote on X Friday that “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword who today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace.”
Leo didn’t specifically cite Trump but his remarks followed repeated comments from the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth couching the US war against Iran in religious terms, comparing a downed US fighter pilot to Jesus Christ and arguing that God has given divine protection to US troops.
Earlier: Pope Rejects US Claim That God Has Picked a Side in the Iran War
(Updates to add details of a Trump social media post in the fourth paragraph)
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