Trump attacks Leo XIV: “Weak and liberal”. US bishops: “The Pope is neither a rival nor a politician”

On Sunday evening, within the space of forty minutes, the President of the United States posted a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social — describing him as “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” — and shortly afterwards shared an image generated by artificial intelligence in which he appears wearing a white tunic, in the act of healing a sick man, surrounded by eagles, flags and military aircraft. The sequence marked a breaking point in relations between an American president and the Pontiff. Trump wrote: “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican”. He said he preferred the Pope’s brother, Louis Prevost, because he would be “all MAGA”. He accused the Pontiff of meeting “Obama sympathisers like David Axelrod” and of failing to defend churches during Covid. Speaking to journalists after disembarking from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, he repeated: “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person”.

Leo XIV’s words on the war in Iran have become progressively more direct over the past two weeks. On Palm Sunday, the Pope warned that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war”. In his Easter Urbi et Orbi message, he called for “those who have weapons” to “lay them down” and announced a prayer vigil for peace in St Peter’s. On Tuesday 7 April, speaking with journalists as he left the Pontifical Villas of Castel Gandolfo, he described as “truly unacceptable” Trump’s threat to Iran’s civilisation and invited “everyone to pray, but also to seek ways of communicating, perhaps with members of Congress, with the authorities, to say that we want peace”. On Friday 10, he wrote on X: “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs”. On Saturday 11 April, at the vigil in St Peter’s followed simultaneously by parishes and dioceses in the United States, he denounced “that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive” and addressed those in government: “Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!”. On none of these occasions did the Pope mention Trump or the United States.

The president’s post came immediately after the broadcast on CBS of the 60 Minutes segment dedicated to the Church under Leo XIV. In the interview, the three American cardinals currently leading archdioceses — Cupich, McElroy and Tobin — defended the Pope’s positions in an unprecedented joint appearance. Cardinal Robert McElroy denied that the conflict in Iran meets the criteria of just war in Catholic doctrine: “It is a war of choice”. Cardinal Blase Cupich denounced the “gamification” of war in White House videos: “We’re dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people into entertainment”. Cardinal Joseph Tobin described ICE as a “lawless organization” and recalled that attendance at Spanish-language Masses in his archdiocese has fallen by thirty per cent in a year. Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, responded to the attack with a statement: “Pope Leo is not” President Trump’s “rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls”.