Pope Leo XIV has responded defiantly to Donald Trump’s extraordinary personal attack on him, saying he has “no fear” of the Trump administration, will not stop criticising the Iran war, and that the message of the Gospel “is not meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing” – a pointed rebuke of the administration’s repeated invocations of God’s blessing for its military campaign.
Speaking to reporters aboard the papal flight to Algiers on Monday, Leo addressed Trump’s attack directly while declining to engage in point-by-point rebuttal. His tone was measured but unmistakeable in its clarity.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do,” he said.
What prompted the exchange
The Pope’s remarks came after Trump launched an unprecedented personal attack on the first American pope in history on Sunday night. Flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump posted a lengthy tirade on Truth Social calling Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” and saying he was “a very liberal person” and “not doing a very good job.”
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac, Trump went further: “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon. He’s a very liberal person. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”
The attack followed Leo’s prayer vigil at St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, during which the Pope suggested that a “delusion of omnipotence” was fuelling the US-Israel war in Iran. The Pope also called Trump’s earlier threat to destroy “an entire civilisation” in Iran “truly unacceptable,” and in his Easter message called on those with weapons to “lay them down” and urged world leaders to pursue peace through dialogue rather than force.
Leo’s response
Rather than trading insults with the most powerful man in the world, Leo drew a careful distinction between his role and Trump’s – while making clear he had no intention of falling silent.
“I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing,” he said – a direct reference to the Trump administration’s repeated theological justifications for the war, including Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s calls to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ” and Trump’s claim that “God is good” and approves of the conflict.
Leo said he did not want to “get into a debate” with Trump personally. “I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems,” he said.
He added: “Too many innocent people are being killed. Someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.”
On the question of whether his interventions were political, the Pope was clear: “I do not look at my role as being political, a politician.” The implication was plain – the same could not be said of all those deploying religious language in support of the war.
A Pope on his way to Africa
The remarks were made as Leo departed for an 11-day trip to Africa – a journey that carries its own symbolic weight. He is scheduled to spend America’s 250th birthday on 4 July on Lampedusa, the tiny Mediterranean island where African migrants wash ashore by the thousands, rather than attending White House celebrations as Trump’s administration had hoped.
One Vatican official has previously said that Leo “may well never visit the United States under this administration” – a sentiment that Sunday’s attack, and Monday’s response, did nothing to contradict.
The significance of Leo’s position
What makes Leo’s defiance politically significant is who he is. This is not a European pope with no connection to America speaking from a position of comfortable distance. This is a man born in Chicago, who grew up in the United States, who is in theory a spiritual leader to the 55% of American Catholic voters who backed Trump in 2024.
His willingness to say publicly that he has “no fear” of the Trump administration – and to suggest that the administration’s religious rhetoric represents an abuse of the Gospel – puts him in a different category from almost every other institution or individual who has drawn Trump’s ire. Most retreat. Most calculate the cost of confrontation and fall silent.
The Catholic Church has faced worse than an angry Truth Social post. The Pope’s message is that the moral obligation to speak against war, against civilian casualties, against the “delusion of omnipotence” he sees driving the conflict, is not subject to negotiation with any political authority – regardless of how powerful that authority believes itself to be.
A March NBC News poll found Leo with a +34 favourability rating among the American public – considerably higher than Trump’s. The first American pope and the American president are now publicly at war with each other. The evidence suggests the American public, at least, knows whose side it is on.
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