Trump escalates feud with Pope Leo as Iran war enters seventh week

Pope Leo XIV has taken direct aim at the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, and Donald Trump answered with a blistering social-media attack that pushed their dispute into open view as the conflict entered its seventh week. The first U.S.-born pope has kept urging political leaders to stop the fighting, negotiate, and reject what the Associated Press described as a “delusion of omnipotence” driving the war.

The confrontation sharpened after Leo’s April 11 prayer vigil for peace at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, where he told the faithful, “War divides; hope unites,” and thanked people around the world for gathering to pray. By April 13, while traveling to Algeria, Leo told reporters he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and said the Vatican’s appeals for peace were rooted in the Gospel. He has continued to call for dialogue and multilateral solutions rather than escalation.

Trump responded first online and then to reporters, calling Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.” He said he would not apologize for criticizing the pontiff’s opposition to the Iran war and added that he did not want a pope who believed it was acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The exchange underscored how sharply the White House and the Vatican now differ over the war’s direction and the role of moral pressure in foreign policy.

Leo’s stance has put the Vatican in a more confrontational posture than in past papacies, with the pope publicly urging leaders to stop the violence and return to negotiations. Trump’s reaction turned the disagreement personal, recasting a theological appeal for peace as a political fight over crime, diplomacy, and nuclear weapons. With the war now in its seventh week, the clash between the White House and the first American pope has become another sign of how little room remains for compromise in Washington’s debate over Iran.

Separately, Eric Swalwell said on April 13 that he plans to resign from the U.S. House of Representatives, after suspending his California governor campaign a day earlier. The California Democrat said he was moving in response to an effort to force an immediate expulsion vote and argued that removing a member of Congress “without due process” within days of an allegation was wrong. Multiple women, including a former staffer, have accused him of sexual assault and misconduct, intensifying bipartisan pressure on his political future.