Pope Leo has said he “will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel” in response to criticism from President Donald Trump.
The 70-year-old pontiff told reporters aboard the papal plane to Algeria that he would continue to proclaim a message of peace, adding that “to put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here … is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is.”
He further said that he had “no fear of the Trump administration”.
The remarks came after President Donald Trump posted a scathing attack on the world’s first Pope from the United States, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.” In reference to Leo’s continued calls for peace, the president said: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela … And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected … to do.”
Trump also sought to portray the election of Pope Leo at last year’s conclave as a direct result of his 2024 electoral victory. He said: “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.”
Shortly after the 334-word post, Trump shared an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing the sick, surrounded by eagles, fighter jets and the Statue of Liberty.
Later in the day, he continued his criticism, telling journalists outside Joint Base Andrews: “He likes crime, I guess … 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.”
Tensions between the Holy See and Washington have been strained for some time. Pope Leo has consistently used language widely interpreted as a response to American foreign policy, particularly in relation to the war involving Iran. On Palm Sunday, he said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” citing the Book of Isaiah: “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen, your hands are full of blood.”
However, the explicit references to one another mark a new phase in relations. While President Donald Trump has frequently voiced disapproval of political leaders around the world, such direct criticism of the Holy Father, whose authority is largely temporal rather than spiritual, is highly unusual.
Trump relied heavily on the Catholic vote in his election, with some estimates suggesting that 58 per cent of voting Catholics supported him. He has also appointed a number of Catholics to senior positions, including Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, White House “border czar” Tom Homan, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe.
Among them, the question of papal disagreement may fall most sharply on Vice President JD Vance. The 41-year-old is known for taking his faith seriously, with his Augustinian-inspired conversion shaping much of his political outlook, and his return to the Catholic faith set out in his forthcoming book Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, due to be published in June.
