By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – US President Donald J Trump on Monday had called Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
Pope Leo XIV responded to US President Donald Trump’s criticism over his Iran comments, defended his earlier remarks said he wants to promote peace.
Pontiff said that he has “no intention to debate” the US President as he is “not a politician”
“The message is the same: to promote peace,” he reiterated.
Trump had severely criticized Pope Leo for his remarks on the Iran war. In a lengthy social media note, Trump had called Pope Leo “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”
“He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump lamented.
He stated that he liked Pope Leo’s brother Louis more. “I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!”
Trump added that he doesn’t want a Pope “who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
“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 and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And 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, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”
Trump said “Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
He continued on, “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. 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!”
Pope Leo called for an end to “the madness of war” as Iran and the US held failed peace talks in Islamabad.
He also denounced the use of Christian language by Trump and his administration to justify war.
Pope Leo had also criticized Trump over his threat that the whole Iranian civilization will be killed if Tehran doesn’t agree to a deal to end the war.
“There are certainly questions of international law, but much more than that, it is a moral question,” Pope Leo had said.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmaeil Baghaei also reacted to Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo.
“In an era when the thunder of bombs and the clamor of warlords and aggressors weigh heavily on the world’s conscience, the words of Pope Leo XIV echo the profound call of the Gospel: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,” he wrote on X.
“Insulting Pope Leo XIV is not only ‘unchristian’; it is a blatant assault on responsible advocacy for peace, justice and humanity,” he added.
