Pope Leo's stance on nuclear weapons, crime, and his "catering to the Radical Left" does not sit well with US President Donald Trump, according to a Monday morning Truth Social post made by the president.
"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," Trump wrote. "I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela," or a pope who is critical of him doing "exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do."
Further, Trump said that Pope Leo "should be thankful," as the only reason he had been elected to the Vatican was "because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump."
"If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican," Trump claimed. "I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!"
Pope Leo should "get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician," since it is hurting him and the Catholic church "very badly," Trump concluded.
Pope says he will continue to speak out against war after Trump's attack
Pope Leo told Reuters on Monday that he plans to continue to "speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialog and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems," following Trump's post.
"I don't want to get into a debate with him," he said to Reuters. "I don't think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing."
"Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there's a better way."
Unprecedented attack on the pope
"There is no ambiguity about the situation now," Massimo Faggioli, an expert on the papacy, told Reuters, comparing the comments to efforts by the leaders of Germany and Italy during World War Two to draw the late Pope Pius XII to support their causes.
"Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly," he said.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was disheartened by Trump's comments.
"Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician," Coakley said. "He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls."
Vatican says it will not participate in Trump's Gaza Board of Peace
Pope Leo, the first American pope, has been a longtime critic of several of Trump's policies. Most recently, in February, he declined the Vatican's invitation to participate in Trump's Gaza Board of Peace initiative.
Efforts to handle crises should be managed by the United Nations, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said at the time.
The Holy See "will not participate in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States," Parolin said.
"One concern," he noted, "is that at the international level it should above all be the United Nations that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted."
Reuters contributed to this story.