Donald Trump is now attacking the Pope.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” the president wrote Sunday night on Truth Social, following Pope Leo XIV‘s recent criticism of the war against Iran. Trump continued to bash the Catholic Church’s response to Covid-19, slam Leo for opposing him despite the “Greatest Stock Market in History,” and claim that his presidency is the only reason Leo was elected Pope. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote.
“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,” the president concluded. “It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
Less than an hour after posting his attack against Pope Leo, Trump posted an image depicting himself as a robed, Christ-like figure, using divine power to heal a man as nurses, soldiers, and others looked on in reverence. The post has been removed from Trump’s account, as of late Monday morning. Trump addressed the post while speaking with reporters at the White House, acknowledging he did post it but that he “thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with the Red Cross.”
“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor,” he said, “making people better, and I do make people better.”
The president posted this not long after attacking the Pope: pic.twitter.com/RlRhO63ZCo
— Adam Wren (@adamwren) April 13, 2026
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Pope Leo XIV, the first American ever elected to lead the Catholic Church, has been sharply critical of Trump’s warmongering, particularly lately amid the United States’ war of choice against Iran. “God does not bless any conflict,” Leo wrote on Friday. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.”
Trump has been at odds with religious leaders since he retook office. Shortly after he was inaugurated, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde delivered a sermon calling for mercy for those who are scared at the Washington National Cathedral. Trump was attending, and days later attacked Budde as “Radical Left and a “Trump hater.” He didn’t take her message to heart, either, launching a brutal immigration crackdown, one that Leo called “extremely disrespectful” last fall. The crackdown has since intensified along with the president’s growing thirst for military conquest.
The Trump administration has demanded the Catholic Church’s endorsement on both fronts.
The Free Press reported earlier in the week that the Pentagon threatened former Holy See American Ambassador Cardinal Christophe Pierre during a meeting earlier this year, warning him that, as The Free Press put it, citing a Vatican official briefed on the meeting, “the United States military has power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.” The White House has denied the reporting, and the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See has said that Cardinal Pierre denied the media’s portrayal of the meeting.
Trump’s attack on Sunday came after 60 Minutes, which Trump often criticises, aired a segment in which Catholic cardinals explained that the ongoing conflict with Iran is “not a just war.” Trump was asked about his post attacking Leo later Sunday night. “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,” the president said before insisting: “I am not a fan of Pope Leo.”
Leo was also asked about Trump’s attacks. “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.”
From Rolling Stone US
