Pope Leo XIV stated on Monday that he had “no intention to debate” with Donald Trump after the US president criticized him over his comments on the US-Iran war.
“I am not a politician,” the Pontiff told reporters aboard the papal plane as they headed to Algeria for the pontiff’s first visit to Africa.
“I have no intention to debate with (Trump). The message is the same: to promote peace.”
Trump told reporters Sunday that he is “not a big fan” of Pope Leo XIII, following the global leader of Catholics’ call for peace.
“I am not a big fan of Pope Leo.” “He’s a very liberal person, and he doesn’t believe in reducing crime,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
He accused the Pope of “toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon.”
On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly asked officials to cease the bloodshed, telling parishioners at St. Peter’s Basilica, “Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the exhibition of power! “Enough of war!”
Trump echoed his remarks to reporters in a post on Truth Social, writing, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
Washington and the Vatican have recently refuted rumors of a schism.
On Friday, a Vatican official rejected allegations that a top Pentagon officer gave the church’s envoy to the United States a “bitter lecture” over Pope Leo’s criticisms of the Trump administration.
The Free Press reported—which the Pentagon had earlier denounced as “distorted”—that Cardinal Christophe Pierre was summoned to the Pentagon in January and given a dressing-down by US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby.
The military official allegedly warned the cardinal that the United States “has the military power to do whatever it wants—and that the Church had better take its side.”
According to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, “the account presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth in any way.”
While both parties claim the conversation was friendly, the Holy See and the White House have openly disagreed over the Trump administration’s tough mass deportation program, which the pope has condemned as “inhuman,” as well as the use of military force in the Middle East and Venezuela.
When Trump made genocidal threats against Iran on Tuesday, stating, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” the pontiff condemned the “truly unacceptable” comment and asked parties to “come back to the table” for talks.
Earlier this month, Pope Leo welcomed the announcement of a cease-fire between the US and Iran as a “sign of real hope.”
However, peace talks between the United States and Iran in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad ended suddenly Saturday, with US Vice President JD Vance telling reporters after a marathon session of discussions that Washington had presented its “final and best offer.”
