In a stunning break from decades of diplomatic precedent between U.S. leaders and the Vatican, former and current U.S. President Donald Trump has delivered an extraordinary, scathing rebuke of Pope Leo, opening a high-profile rift between the White House and the Catholic Church over two polarizing global issues: the ongoing war in Iran and Trump’s hardline immigration agenda.
The verbal assault began with a post Sunday on Trump’s Truth Social platform, where the president unleashed a series of harsh accusations against the pontiff. He labeled Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy,” and doubled down on his criticism during a subsequent press briefing, telling reporters bluntly, “I’m not a big fan [of Pope Leo].”
The conflict stems from long-running public opposition Pope Leo has leveled against two of Trump’s signature policies. On the Iran conflict, the pontiff has emerged as one of the most high-profile global critics of the U.S.-led war against Tehran, a conflict justified by the U.S. and Israel over Iran’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities. When Trump issued a stark threat to “destroy Iranian civilisation” earlier this year, Pope Leo dismissed the statement as “unacceptable” and has repeatedly called on the Trump administration to pursue a diplomatic “off-ramp” to end the bloody conflict. The pope has used multiple public platforms, including his recent Easter address, to press for de-escalation across the Middle East, urging global leaders with the power to end war to choose peace. In that Easter speech, he lamented that global populations have grown desensitized to violence and indifferent to the thousands of civilian deaths from ongoing conflicts, without naming specific nations directly.
Beyond the Iran war, Pope Leo has also publicly questioned whether Trump’s restrictive immigration agenda aligns with the Catholic Church’s longstanding pro-life and pro-human dignity teachings, putting him at direct ideological odds with the White House.
Trump’s criticism came as Pope Leo embarked on an 11-day pastoral trip to Africa, his second major international journey since his election to the papacy one year ago. In his social media post, Trump went beyond policy criticism, repeating a claim that the pontiff’s election was orchestrated specifically to counter his presidency. “He was elected because he was American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump,” Trump wrote. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
Pushed by reporters to elaborate on his claims, Trump doubled down on his unorthodox attacks, arguing “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job, he likes crime, I guess.” He added: “He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man who doesn’t believe in stopping crime, he’s a man who doesn’t believe we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world.” His reference to Pope Leo being “weak on nuclear weapons” referred to the pontiff’s calls for diplomatic negotiation rather than military escalation around Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump’s unprecedented public attack drew immediate, fierce backlash from Catholic leaders and religious scholars across the globe. Massimo Faggioli, a prominent Vatican and church history expert, told Reuters that the scope and bluntness of Trump’s criticism was unmatched even in periods of deep conflict between secular leaders and the papacy. “Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the Pope so directly and publicly,” Faggioli said, highlighting how extraordinary the current rift is. The conflict has sparked widespread debate over the separation of church and state, as well as the role of the papacy in shaping global policy on war and migration.