President Trump escalated his extraordinary public feud with Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday, accusing the first U.S.-born pontiff of “endangering” Catholics by opposing the American-led war against Iran — comments that landed just days before Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet the pope at the Vatican.
In a May 5 radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, Trump claimed Pope Leo would “rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon” — an assertion the pontiff has never made and which directly contradicts the Catholic Church’s longstanding teaching against nuclear arms. The president accused Leo of “endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people” by refusing to back the U.S.-Israel war effort.
The remarks reignited a holy war between the White House and the Vatican that has intensified since Operation Epic Fury — the joint U.S. and Israeli airstrike campaign against Iran — began February 28. With Rubio, a practicing Catholic, expected to sit down with the pope within days, Trump’s broadside has thrown a diplomatic grenade into what was already shaping up to be one of the most delicate encounters of his second term.
Pope Responds From Castel Gandolfo
Speaking with journalists in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on the same day, Pope Leo offered a measured but firm rebuke. The pontiff reminded the world that since his election, his message has been one of peace, and that the Church’s mission is to “preach the Gospel, to preach peace.”
“If anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so with the truth,” Leo said, according to OSV News. He added that the Church has spoken out against nuclear weapons for decades and that he simply hopes “to be heard for the sake of the Word of God.”
The friction has been building for weeks. After a “60 Minutes” segment on April 12 spotlighted Leo’s criticisms of mass deportations and the Iran war, Trump unloaded on Truth Social, branding the pope “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.” The president even questioned the legitimacy of Leo’s election, writing that the pontiff “wasn’t on any list to be Pope” and was elevated only “because he was an American.” Trump capped the post with a remarkable boast: “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
The next day, Trump doubled down at Joint Base Andrews, telling reporters he was “not a fan of Pope Leo” and dismissing him as “a very liberal person.”
An American Pope MAGA Cannot Dismiss
What makes this feud unlike any other Trump has waged is the man on the other side of it. Born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago and shaped by years of missionary work in Peru, Pope Leo XIV cannot be filed away by the American Catholic right as a meddling European cleric or, like his predecessor, a Latin American leftist.
Christopher White, an author and Georgetown researcher who has chronicled Leo’s rise, argues the pope is not seeking a political brawl but refuses to be silenced. He noted that Leo recently looked into a camera and urged American Catholics to call their lawmakers and “reject war, reject violence.” The pope, White said, “didn’t go looking for a fight with the president. The president is certainly the one who escalated this.”
The Politics Behind the Punches
The timing of Trump’s offensive is no accident. The president is bleeding politically. His approval rating has slumped to 34%, the lowest of his second term, and his approval on the economy sits at just 30%. The Iran war has closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupted 20% of global oil supplies, and pushed gas prices past $4 a gallon. Inflation has climbed back to 3.3% — the highest since May 2024 — with economists warning of 4.2% by year’s end.
A majority of voters, 53%, now describe the military action against Iran as a failure, and Democrats hold a 10-point lead on the generic congressional ballot heading into the midterms. Pope Leo, by contrast, holds a 42% favorable rating against just 8% unfavorable — a net favorability some 34 points better than the president’s.
Trump’s June 2025 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which he claimed had “completely and totally obliterated” Tehran’s program, did not prevent the renewed war this year. A fragile two-week ceasefire was reached April 7, but the rhetorical war between Washington and Rome has only intensified.
Rubio, meanwhile, will walk into the Apostolic Palace carrying the weight of his boss’s words. The secretary of state has gestured at cooperation, noting the administration’s offer of $6 million in humanitarian aid to Cuba routed through the Church, and has suggested the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality.” Whether that olive branch survives contact with Trump’s latest tirade — or whether Pope Leo continues urging Catholics to pressure their lawmakers — is the question now hanging over the Vatican.