Religious row continues as Trump lashes out at Pope, who brands his words untrue

United States President Donald Trump (left) and Pope Leo are once again engaged in a tense exchange of words over the Iran conflict. Photo / Getty Images

United States President Donald Trump has unleashed new criticism at Pope Leo XIV, suggesting the pontiff’s views on foreign policy are “endangering Catholics and a lot of people” and that the Pope is “fine” with Iran having a nuclear weapon.

The Pope quickly pushed back against the President’s remarks, painting them as untrue.

Speaking to journalists outside the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, 24km south of Rome, Pope Leo said: “Should anyone want to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, they should do so with the truth. For years, the church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there’s no doubt about it, there. So I simply hope to be listened to for the value of God’s word.”

The tense exchange again highlighted what Vatican officials have described privately as an unprecedented low in relations with the United States ahead of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Italy this week, including a scheduled audience with Pope Leo on Thursday (local time).

Direct criticism by an American President of the spiritual leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, who now number 1.4 billion, is exceedingly rare.

Rubio on Tuesday (local time) sought to dispel any suggestions of a rift, indicating that his meeting had been planned before Trump’s verbal attacks on the pope last month, which had raised pique in the halls of the Vatican and divided conservative Catholics in the United States.

Trump upbraided the Pope on social media after he and other leading members of the church repeatedly spoke out in favour of peace and against the invocation of God’s name to justify war.

In an interview on Monday (local time) with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said that “the Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s okay for Iran ​to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good”.

He added: “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But ​I guess if it’s up to the Pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Rubio sought to clarify Trump’s remarks, telling journalists: “I think what the President basically said is that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon because they would use it against places that have a lot of Catholics and Christians, and others for that matter.”

While Pope Leo has spoken out against the US-Israel war on Iran in increasingly vocal terms, and has taken aim at invocations of God to defend war, he has never suggested that it was acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon – a device the Vatican has long opposed.

Trump’s latest comments follow more detailed criticism he levelled against Pope Leo in April, in which he labelled the Chicago-born pontiff “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy”, in an attack that brought a flurry of rebukes.

Shortly after Trump delivered those comments, Pope Leo told reporters that he had “no fear of the Trump Administration”. He later made a series of speeches during his trip to Africa in which he decried “tyrants” who funded wars.

– The Washington Post

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