Ryan Bort
Contact Ryan Bort on X View all posts by Ryan Bort April 13, 2026
Donald Trump arrives at the White House on April 12, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Matt McClain/Getty Images Donald Trump is now attacking the Pope.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” the president wrote Sunday night on Truth Social, following Pope Leo XIV‘s recent criticism of the war against Iran. Trump continued to bash the Catholic Church’s response to Covid-19, slam Leo for opposing him despite the “Greatest Stock Market in History,” and claim that his presidency is the only reason Leo was elected Pope. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote.
“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,” the president concluded. “It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
Less than an hour after posting his attack against Pope Leo, Trump posted an image depicting himself as a robed, Christ-like figure, using divine power to heal a man as nurses, soldiers, and others looked on in reverence.
The president posted this not long after attacking the Pope: pic.twitter.com/RlRhO63ZCo
— Adam Wren (@adamwren) April 13, 2026
Pope Leo XIV, the first American ever elected to lead the Catholic Church, has been sharply critical of Trump’s warmongering, particularly lately amid the United States’ war of choice against Iran. “God does not bless any conflict,” Leo wrote on Friday. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.”
Trump has been at odds with religious leaders since he retook office. Shortly after he was inaugurated, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde delivered a sermon calling for mercy for those who are scared at the Washington National Cathedral. Trump was attending, and days later attacked Budde as “Radical Left and a “Trump hater.” He didn’t take her message to heart, either, launching a brutal immigration crackdown, one that Leo called “extremely disrespectful” last fall. The crackdown has since intensified along with the president’s growing thirst for military conquest.
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The Trump administration has demanded the Catholic Church’s endorsement on both fronts.
The Free Press reported earlier in the week that the Pentagon threatened former Holy See American Ambassador Cardinal Christophe Pierre during a meeting earlier this year, warning him that, as The Free Press put it, citing Vatican official briefed on the meeting, “the United States military has power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.” The White House has denied the reporting, and the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See has said that Cardinal Pierre denied the media’s portrayal of the meeting.
