Donald Trump trashed ‘weak’ Pope Leo in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday after weeks of criticism of the Iran War from the American-born pontiff.
It also comes after Pope Leo met with former Barack Obama campaign manager David Axelrod, which Trump also slammed.
‘Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,’ Trump said, before criticizing the pope on several other issues.
Trump elaborated on the pope, whom he described as ‘a very liberal person,’ when speaking to the press at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday night.
‘I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess. We don’t like a pope who says it’s ok to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is ok. I am not a fan of Pope Leo,’ Trump said.
The President went deeper on his opposition to Pope Leo and the church’s stance on several issues in the Truth Social post.
‘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 WROTE.
The President then referenced Leo’s brother Louis, who has said he’s a supporter of Trump and was feted at the White House last year.
Donald Trump trashed ‘weak’ Pope Leo in a lengthy Truth Social post on Sunday after weeks of criticism of the Iran War from the American-born Pontiff
It also comes after Pope Leo met with former Barack Obama campaign manager David Axelrod, which Trump also slammed
‘I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!’
Trump then criticized Pope Leo again for suggesting he wanted Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Denuclearization of Iran is one of Trump’s main reasons for striking Tehran.
‘I don’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.’
The President then claimed that Pope Leo ‘criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.’
Trump then went on to even suggest that he is the only reason that Pope Leo became the first American leader of the Catholic Church.
‘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. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.’
Trump continued to rip Pope Leo for his meeting with Axelrod, who the President called an ‘Obama sympathizer’ and ‘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!’
It was an extraordinary broadside against the global leader of the Catholic Church, exacerbating a feud that began over the war in Iran.
Trump’s post followed Leo having denounced over the weekend the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ that is fueling 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 didn’t mention the United States or Trump by name in his prayer.
But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.
Leo is scheduled to leave Monday for an 11-day trip to Africa.
This is a developing story.
