Trump and Pope Leo XIV clash over Iran war, crime, and foreign policy

President Donald Trump escalated his feud with Pope Leo XIV on Sunday, attacking the first U.S.-born pope as “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy” after Leo criticized the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran and called for peace. In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump also called the Chicago-born pontiff “very liberal,” accused him of “catering to the Radical Left,” and said, without evidence, that the Vatican chose him because he was American.

Trump said he did not want a pope who thought it was acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and he told reporters on the tarmac that he was “not a fan of Pope Leo.” He also claimed the pope should be “thankful” and suggested his own presence in the White House had helped lift Leo’s profile, turning a theological dispute into a public test of power between Washington and Vatican City.

Leo answered on Monday by saying he had “no fear of the Trump administration” and would keep speaking “loudly” for the Gospel’s message of peace and reconciliation. He said his appeals were rooted in the Gospel and that he did not view them as a direct attack on Trump. The pope has already condemned Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization as “truly unacceptable” and said attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international law.

The clash carries unusual weight because Leo is the first U.S.-born pope, making the confrontation a rare open break between an American president and an American pope. It also places the Vatican more squarely in the center of the national fight over immigration, war powers and the moral limits of U.S. foreign policy, especially as the Gaza and Iran wars continue to inflame Catholic and political debate.

Leo’s stance suggests he is willing to use the papacy as a public counterweight to Trump rather than a ceremonial voice above politics. For U.S. Catholics, the exchange sharpened a choice between loyalty to a president and allegiance to a pope who has framed the conflict in moral terms, not partisan ones. As the war in Iran deepens the culture fight over crime, security and the use of force, Leo has signaled that silence is not part of his office.