U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled down on his criticism of Pope Leo XIV over the religious leader’s opposition to “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran.
“Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a nuclear bomb is absolutely unacceptable,” the president wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter. America is back!!!” Trump added.
The pontiff in a March 15 statement first urged an immediate ceasefire with the Islamic regime, calling for an “end to the thunderous sound of bombs.”
In the week before the April 7 truce, Leo went further, tweeting, “This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war” and claiming in his Palm Sunday message that “God does not bless any conflict.”
Trump on Monday pushed back on the criticism from the first-ever U.S.-born pope, writing on Truth Social that Leo was “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy.” He added: “I don’t want a pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
“He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,” the president told reporters on Monday.
“I’m just responding to Pope Leo,” he added. “He went public.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Leo earlier this month that Tehran poses a threat not only to the Jewish state, but to religious communities throughout the region.
During the call, Herzog stressed the continuing danger posed by the Islamic regime’s missile program and its network of terror proxies across the Middle East. He also pointed to recent Iranian missile strikes targeting Jerusalem “that fell in the area of sites holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews,” according to a readout.
The Israeli head of state added that the Iranian people themselves “deserve a better future,” free from a “violent and dangerous” regime.
