Trump slams ‘WEAK on crime’ Pope Leo for spending time with Democrats, says US-born pontiff ‘wouldn’t be in the Vatican’ without him
Donald Trump trashed Pope Leo on Sunday after repeated criticism of the Iran War from the American-born pontiff.
Trump was exiting Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews when he aired a litany of grievances against the head of the Catholic Church.
‘I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess,’ Trump told reporters.
‘We don’t like a pope who says it’s ok to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is ok. I am not a fan of Pope Leo.’
Trump’s comments came just moments after a Truth Social post that slammed Pope Leo for meeting with Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Axelrod.
‘Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday night.
The President then referenced Leo’s brother Louis, who has said he’s a supporter of Trump and was feted at the White House last year.
‘I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!’
Trump then criticized Pope Leo again for suggesting he wanted Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Denuclearization of Iran is one of Trump’s main reasons for striking Tehran.
Donald Trump trashed ‘weak’ Pope Leo in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday after weeks of criticism of the Iran War from the American-born Pontiff
It also comes after Pope Leo met with former Barack Obama campaign manager David Axelrod, which Trump also slammed
‘I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,’ Trump said.
‘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.’
The President went deeper on his opposition to Pope Leo and the church’s stance on several issues including COVID lockdowns.
‘He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,’ Trump wrote.
The President then claimed that Pope Leo ‘criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.’
Trump then went on to even suggest that he is the only reason that Pope Leo became the first American leader of the Catholic Church.
‘Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. 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. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.’
Trump continued to rip Pope Leo for his meeting with Axelrod, who the President called an ‘Obama sympathizer’ and ‘a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested.’
‘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. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!’
It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran.
Trump then posted what appeared to be an AI drawing of himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick person, followed by a photoshop of what it would look like if Trump Tower were built on the moon.
The post followed Leo having denounced over the weekend the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ that is fueling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.
Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire.
The US-born pope didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name in his prayer.
But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.
It came after the pontiff seemed to use his first Easter Sunday address to send a message to Trump as he urged ‘let those who have weapons lay them down’.
The pope, who has strongly denounced Trump’s war in Iran, deplored to the thousands gathered in St Peter’s Square that people ‘are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it and becoming indifferent’.
The President referenced Leo’s brother Louis, who has said he’s a supporter of Trump and was feted at the White House last year
Key Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod recently met with Pope Leo
Speaking from the Vatican balcony, the first US-born pope exclaimed: ‘Let those who have weapons lay them down!
‘Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force but by dialogue.’
Leo, 70, did not specify a conflict within his message, known as the Urbi et Orbi blessing – translated as ‘to the city and the world’.
The papal address was unusually short and lasted around 15 minutes. It is normally around double the length in time.
Leo also reflected on the biblical story of Easter – in which Jesus rises from the dead three days after peacefully accepting his death by crucifixion – to highlight the ‘entirely nonviolent’ nature of Christ.
He added the peace Jesus gives ‘is not merely the silence of weapons’, and urged: ‘On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars.’
Before the ceasefire, when Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and other infrastructure and that ‘an entire civilization will die tonight,’ Leo described such sentiments as ‘truly unacceptable.’
Leo is scheduled to leave Monday for an 11-day trip to Africa.
Pope Leo XIV meets with US Vice President JD Vance, his wife Usha Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, on May 19, 2025 in Vatican City
From right, Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance, brother of Pope Leo XIV, Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah, attend the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate in St. Peter’s Square
Leo noted there is a ‘globalization of indifference’, including to the ‘deaths of thousands of people’, the ‘repercussions of hatred’ and the ‘social and economic repercussions’ wars produce.
The pontiff continued: ‘The cross of Christ always reminds us of the suffering and pain that surround death and the agony it entails.
‘We are all afraid of death and out of fear, we turn away preferring not to look. We cannot continue to be indifferent. We cannot resign ourselves to evil.’
Leo’s Easter Sunday address follows his public cries calling for the end of global conflicts, including a significant step up in his criticism of the Iran war.
Popes do not typically mention world leaders by name, yet an exception was made last week when he publicly referred to Trump.
He told reporters on Tuesday: ‘I’m told that President Trump has recently stated that he would like to end the war…I hope he is looking for an off-ramp.’
Leo, who was born in Chicago, added: ‘We constantly make the call for peace but unfortunately, many people want to promote hatred, violence and war.’
His comments contradicted those made by the US secretary Pete Hegseth – who deemed the Iran war as a holy one.
While in prayer last week, Hegseth asked God for ‘overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy’.
He added: ‘Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.’
In what seems to be retaliation the Pope said at St Peter’s on Palm Sunday, God ‘does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them’.
Turning to the Bible, he said: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’
The seemingly back-and-forth row between the Trump administration and Pope Leo XIV started last year.
Before he was elected in May last year, Leo scrutinised JD Vance’s claims that the Bible justified caring for one’s family before migrants.
Following an invite by the US vice-president to the US for Independence Day on July 4 this year, the Pope said he will instead spend the day visiting Lampedusa – an Italian island where migrants land after sailing from Africa.
This year marks Leo’s first Easter as Pope after the death of Pope Francis, aged 88, on Easter Monday last year.
The Urbi et Orbi is the most solemn form of blessing in the Catholic Church, reserved for occasions including Easter and Christmas.
In the 2024 election, Trump won 55 percent of Catholic voters, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate.
But Trump’s administration also has close ties to conservative evangelical Protestant leaders and has claimed heavenly endorsement for the war on Iran.