US President Donald Trump has launched a fierce public attack on Pope Leo XIV after the pontiff renewed his calls for peace and criticised the logic of war.

Trump accused the pope of being “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” in a social media post. He also said he did not want a pope who appeared to oppose his hardline stance on Iran. Later, he doubled down in comments to reporters, describing Leo as “a very liberal person” and saying he was “not a fan” of the pope.

Pope Leo’s Peace Message Sparks Backlash

The clash followed Pope Leo’s latest appeal against war during a peace vigil at St Peter’s Basilica. Without naming Trump directly, Leo warned against the “delusion of omnipotence” and said prayer could not be used to justify violence.

In earlier remarks, the pope had also said that “God does not bless any conflict” and rejected efforts to wrap war in religious language. The first American-born pope has become one of the most outspoken critics of the US-Israeli war on Iran, calling instead for dialogue and coexistence.

A Rare Vatican-White House Confrontation

Public tension between a US president and a pope is not unheard of, but this clash is unusually direct. Trump went beyond criticising Leo’s views on war and suggested the pope had risen to the Vatican’s top job because Church leaders wanted an American who could deal with him politically.

The row adds another layer of drama to an already dangerous moment in the Middle East. It also risks deepening divisions among American Catholics and Christians as political leaders and religious figures take sharply different positions on war, diplomacy and moral authority.

Fallout Comes as Tensions Grow

The spat came as Trump confirmed a new US blockade targeting Iranian ports after peace talks failed, pushing the wider conflict into a more volatile phase.

Pope Leo’s peace appeal landed just as the war was escalating again, making Trump’s response feel less like a passing insult and more like part of a wider battle over who gets to frame this conflict, politically, morally and spiritually.