The feud between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV escalated sharply on Sunday after the American-born pontiff denounced what he called the “delusion of omnipotence” driving the US-Israel war in Iran — remarks that appeared aimed squarely at Washington without naming it directly.
Leo delivered the rebuke during an evening prayer service at St. Peter’s Basilica, the same day the United States and Iran held face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan under a fragile ceasefire. Though the pope named neither the United States nor Trump, his call for political leaders to halt the conflict and pursue peace came as US officials have publicly justified the war in religious terms and touted American military superiority.
Trump responded with a broadside on social media. “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he wrote, before adding: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” He also urged the pontiff to “stop catering to the Radical Left.”
After landing outside Washington aboard Air Force One from Florida, Trump continued the attack when reporters approached him. “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon,” he said. Asked about Leo more broadly, Trump was unsparing. “He’s a very liberal person,” he said, then added plainly: “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”
The exchange marks a striking public rupture between a sitting US president and the leader of the global Catholic Church — and the first to involve an American pope.
