Donald Trump launched an unusually direct attack on Pope Leo late Sunday, drawing swift condemnation from members of the Catholic Church’s 1.4 billion-strong flock.
The U.S. president, in an apparent response to the pope's growing criticisms of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies, said Leo was "terrible."
"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Catholics on social media quickly lambasted Trump for attacking the leader of their Church, who they believe is the successor of St. Peter, one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
"There is no ambiguity about the situation now," Massimo Faggioli, an expert on the papacy, told Reuters.
He compared the comments to efforts by the leaders of Germany and Italy during World War II to draw the late Pope Pius XII to support their causes.
"Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly," said Faggioli.
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was disheartened by Trump's comments.
"Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls," he said in a statement.
Pope Leo XIV also pushed back Monday, telling reporters that the Vatican's appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel and that he doesn't fear the Trump administration.
"To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think, is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is," Leo told AP aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria. "And I'm sorry to hear that but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today."
The pope stressed that he was not making a direct attack against Trump or anyone else with his general appeal for peace and criticisms of the "delusion of omnipotence" that is fueling the Iran wars and other conflicts around the world.
"I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: 'Blessed are the peacemakers,'" Leo said.
"I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that's possible"
Speaking to other reporters, he added: "I have no fear of the Trump administration."
Leo, originally from Chicago, is the first U.S. pope. Known for choosing his words carefully, he has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war in recent weeks and decried the "madness of war" in a peace appeal Saturday.
Last year, he questioned whether the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies were in line with the Church's pro-life teachings.
"Someone who says, 'I am against abortion, but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life," the pontiff said in September.
Trump wrote in his post Sunday that "Leo should get his act together as Pope," later telling reporters he was "not a big fan" of the pontiff.
Trump's broadside against Leo also accused him of being "weak on nuclear weapons," several days after the pope said the U.S. president's threat to destroy Iranian civilization was "truly unacceptable."
In a speech on Palm Sunday last month in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, the pope said God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have their "hands full of blood," calling the conflict in Iran "atrocious."
Leo has also called on Trump to find an "off-ramp" to end the conflict and "decrease the amount of violence."
In his post, Trump suggested that Leo was only elected to lead the Catholic Church last year "because he was an American and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump."
The pope on Monday embarked on an ambitious, 10-day tour of four countries in Africa. He has called for "deep reflection" about the way migrants are being treated in the U.S.
His call for a more compassionate approach to immigration – a sentiment expressed by several of Leo's predecessors – stands in contrast to the stance of Trump, who has argued that the U.S. must curtail immigration from developing countries to reduce crime.
"He's a very liberal person and he's a man who doesn't believe in stopping crime," Trump told reporters Sunday night.
Trump also had a rocky relationship with Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, who criticized Trump's immigration policy proposals when he first ran for president and suggested Trump was "not a Christian."
Trump had called Francis "disgraceful" in early 2016.
