President Donald Trump sharply criticized Pope Leo XIV in his remarks to reporters and on social networks Sundaycalling America’s first leader of the Catholic Church “WEAK on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy.”
“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, when asked about his lengthy article on Truth Social Sunday night criticizing the pope.
“We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope who says crime is OK in our cities. I don’t like that. I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo,” Trump added.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week, the pope criticized Trump’s public threats to “wipe out” Iranian civilization, saying “attacks on civilian infrastructure” are contrary to international law” and urging people to contact leaders and members of Congress to call for peace. He urged Trump to end the war in Iran, and he lamented in his Easter message last week, the world “became indifferent” to violence. Leo had also criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“Leo should be grateful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list of candidates for pope and was only put there by the Church because he was 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 said.
Trump later posted a photo depicting himself as having powers similar to Jesus Christ. Wearing a biblical-style robe, Trump places his hands on a bedridden man as light emanates from his fingers. A soldier, a nurse, a praying woman, and a bearded man in a baseball cap all look on, with American monuments in the background and the sky filled with eagles and an American flag.
In a brief statement Sunday evening, Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, rebuked Trump’s criticism of the pope.
“I am disheartened that the President has chosen to write such derogatory words about the Holy Father,” Coakley wrote. “Pope Leo is not his rival; the Pope is not a politician either. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”
Trump hasn’t always criticized Leo. At the time, Trump called the Pope elections in May “an honor for our country.”
“It’s such a great honor for our country to have an American pope. I mean, what greater honor could there be? That we were a little surprised, very happy. But just a great, absolutely great honor,” he said at the time.
A NBC News March Poll found that American voters viewed Pope Leo more favorably than Trump. Forty-two percent of those surveyed said they had a positive opinion of the pope, while only 8 percent had a negative opinion of him. While 41% of respondents said they had a positive opinion of Trump, 53% said they had a negative opinion of him.
Leo was traveling to Algeria on Monday as part of an 11-day tour of four African countries.