One world leader is immune to threats from President Trump.
He has no worries about jacked-up tariffs. His tiny spot of a state lacks an Arctic land mass to be coveted. He’s not part of a military alliance that can be sundered on a whim. A Venezuelan-style kidnapping is highly unlikely. Taking on Mr. Trump, in a spiritual sort of way, can even be seen as part of his job description.
This statesman — the term is the least important part of his job portfolio — is Pope Leo XIV, the Vicar of Christ, supreme pontiff of the universal church and, especially after this week, the world’s strongest moral voice against Mr. Trump’s war making. He is unburdened by the calculations other heads of state have to consider in deciding whether to challenge or appease a vengeful American president.
In fact, Leo’s stand is part of a much larger purpose: to present a worldview in contrast, in all ways, to Trumpism. His comments over the past year have reflected a deep-seated commitment to multilateralism, the common good, decency, respectful debate and the rule of law.
Even before his election nearly a year ago, Leo implicitly criticized the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies, and he has continued to do so as pontiff. Over the past month, he has issued increasingly forceful denunciations of Mr. Trump’s war in Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s call on Americans last month to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ” seemed to genuinely anger him. God, Leo said on Palm Sunday, “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.”
After three American cardinals and close allies of Leo reinforced his criticisms in a “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump followed the broadcast with a social media tirade against Leo, calling him “Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons” and a caterer to the “Radical Left.” He said Leo should focus less on being a “Politician.” Even more American Catholic leaders then rallied to support their pontiff. Mr. Trump refused to apologize.
As the standoff unfolded, tourists filled St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City even as the pope, many of his close collaborators and the Vatican press corps were flying to Africa. One non-Catholic American on vacation, Marléne Williams, 71, of Parker, Colo., said she had been trying to avoid the news but couldn’t help hearing about Mr. Trump’s comments. “I’m not happy, let’s just put it that way,” Ms. Williams said.
Some Vatican watchers said they could never recall such harsh public comments uttered by a world leader about a pope in modern times. The Rev. Fernando Puig, rector of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, called them “insulting” in an interview. Pope Leo “deserves respect,” not just as the head of the Holy See, but for his “moral leadership” as head of the Catholic Church, he said, recalling that Leo’s first words as pope from the balcony of St. Peter’s were, “Peace be with you.”
The pope had his own swift response to Mr. Trump’s words. “I am not a politician, and I do not want to enter into a debate with him,” he said of the American president. The message of the Gospel should not “be abused, as some are doing.”
“I continue to speak strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems,” he told reporters traveling with him on a plane to Algiers. “Too many people are suffering today, too many innocent lives have been lost, and I believe someone must stand up and say there is a better way.”
Given that all recent popes have made cries for peace a regular part of the job, what is special about Leo’s stand on the Iran war? His status as the first American pope condemning an American war certainly makes it unique. He also stands in contrast to other world leaders who have had to be more circumspect given the cudgel in the White House; leaders of America’s European allies have been more muted in their opposition to the war or have demonstrated their stand by avoiding taking part in military action.
Some Vatican officials said Leo’s words held important nuances. “He did not attack Trump,” the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, under secretary for the Vatican’s department of culture and education told me. “He attacked Trump’s logic.”
Father Spadaro said there was an indirect but immediate benefit of Mr. Trump’s papal excoriation: He unified the sharply divided left and right of the American bishops into coming to the pope’s defense. “It’s a kind of miracle,” he said, perched on a reception room couch in Vatican offices. He said he has detected in Leo, as the war has progressed, a greater sense of comfort in being “more straightforward” in his critiques.
Leo has shown himself to be a reserved, measured and careful person. Similarly, the Vatican in its foreign affairs operates according to ingrained — sometimes plodding, often imperfect — traditions of diplomacy, dialogue, mediation and persuasion. The contrast with Mr. Trump and his administration could not be greater.
“His statements have a very important political impact in the world, and he knows that very well,” said Father Puig, the university rector.
Leo’s predecessor, Francis, was seen by many as a moral beacon by those “who desperately seek a light inside the darkness of Donald Trump,” David Gibson wrote in these pages a year ago. He posed the question of who might succeed Francis in this role.
The answer now seems clear.
Daniel J. Wakin has been a reporter and editor at The Times for more than two decades and covered the papacy of John Paul II.
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