Six weeks into the Iran war, a new war of words has erupted between Pope Leo XIV and United States President Donald Trump over the conflict in West Asia. Pope Leo XIV, in his strongest words against the war, rejected the “delusion of omnipotence” that he said was fueling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded that political leaders stop and negotiate peace.
While he didn’t mention America or Donald Trump, his comments seemed to point in that exact direction.
“Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in the service of life,” Leo demanded as he urged the leaders to sit down and resolve the conflict through diplomacy.
“Stop! It’s time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not the table where rearmament is planned.”
This caught the attention of Donald Trump.
The US president has slammed Pope Leo XIV in a social media post, saying the pope is “weak” on crime and foreign policy. Trump also claimed that if it wasn’t for him, the pope would not have been named the next pontiff after the death of Pope Francis.
“Leo should be grateful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list of popes, and the Church put him there just because he was American and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” he said.
“Leo should pull himself together as pope, use common sense, stop worrying about the radical left and focus on being a great pope, not a politician.”
Trump praised his brother, saying, “I like his brother Louis a lot more than I do because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked the United States and their prisons were emptied, even the United States was sending huge numbers of Venezuelans, even drug addicts. murderers, drug dealers and killers into our country and I don’t want the Pope criticizing the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected to do, by a landslide, setting record low crime rates and creating the largest stock market in history.
How the Pope responded to Trump’s criticism
Responding to Donald Trump’s criticism, Pope Leo XIV said on Monday that he is not a politician and has no intention of debating with the US president.
Pope Leo XIV in an interview with reporters, he said: “I am not a politician. I have no intention of debating with (Trump). The message is the same: promote peace.”
“I’m talking about the gospel; I’m not a politician. I don’t think the message of the gospel should be abused the way some people do,” he said, adding: “I will continue to speak loudly against war, try to promote peace and multilateral dialogue between states to find proper solutions to problems.”
“The message of the Church is the message of the Gospel: blessed are the peacemakers. I don’t see my role as that of a politician, I don’t want to get into a debate with him. Too many people in the world are suffering.”
