Donald Trump tells ‘weak’ Pope Leo to ‘stop catering to radical left’

“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job,” Mr Trump said, adding: “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.” 

President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media on Sunday, saying the first American pope should “stop catering to the Radical Left”.

It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Mr Trump wrote on social media.

Soon afterwards, he spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, where he landed on Air Force One.

“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job,” Mr Trump said, adding: “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.” 

Mr Trump’s post followed Leo having denounced over the weekend the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fuelling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire.

The US-born pope did not mention the United States or Mr Trump by name in his prayer. But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Mr Trump and his administration, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

Mr Trump repeated the sentiment of his social media post in comments to reporters, saying: “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.” 

Leo — who is scheduled to leave on Monday for an 11-day trip to Africa — has previously said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them”.

He has also referenced an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that “even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood”.

Before the ceasefire, when Mr Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and other infrastructure and warned that “an entire civilization will die tonight,” Leo described such sentiments as “truly unacceptable”.

In his social media post on Sunday night, however, Mr Trump went far beyond the war in Iran in criticising Leo.

The president wrote: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States.

“I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.” 

He also suggested in the post that Leo only got his position “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,” Mr Trump wrote, adding: “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. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!” 

In his comments to reporters, Mr Trump remained highly critical, saying of Leo: “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess. He’s a very liberal person.” Archbishop Paul S Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement saying he was “disheartened” by Mr Trump’s comments.

“Pope Leo is not his 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,” Archbishop Coakley said.

In the 2024 election, Mr Trump won 55% of Catholic voters, according to AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate.

But his administration also has close ties to conservative evangelical Protestant leaders and has claimed heavenly endorsement for the war on Iran.

Defence secretary Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ”. And, when Mr Trump was asked whether he thought God approved of the war, he said: “I do, because God is good — because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.”