Donald Trump has launched a baffling attack on Pope Leo XIV, accusing him of being “weak” and “soft on crime.”
The US president said the American-born leader of the Catholic Church was not “doing a very good job” and that he was “a very liberal person.”
He went on to suggest the pontiff should “stop catering to the Radical Left.”
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In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo. “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”
He added: “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.
“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!”
He then echoed the comments to reporters after flying back from Washington to Florida.
Speaking on the tarmac, he said: “We don’t like a pope who says it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump’s words came after Pope Leo had suggested over the weekend that the US and Israel’s war in Iran was being caused by a “delusion of omnipotence.”
Leo has consistently called for peace in the Middle East, saying that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them”.
Trump has decided to interpret this as the pope wanting Iran to have a nuclear weapon though, prompting a verbal attack that is shocking and extraordinary even by his lofty standards.