Days after the Trump administration’s top diplomat to the Holy See sought to play down Pope Leo XIV’s criticism of the U.S. war in Iran, a senior Vatican official on Monday issued a rare public rebuttal, arguing that when the pope speaks forcefully about war, migrants and other topics, he is officially “proclaiming the Gospel.”
The op-ed by Andrea Tornielli, editorial manager for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, came after the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Brian Burch, sought to portray Leo’s criticism of the war in Iran as coming not from the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics, but rather, as the political leader of the tiny state of Vatican City.
Thus, Burch argued, Leo’s criticism should be viewed through a political rather than a religious prism.
“When the pope acts as the sovereign leader of the Holy See, he is coequal with world leaders,” Burch, a prominent Catholic ally of President Donald Trump, argued in an interview published Thursday by the New York Times.
That the Vatican felt compelled to answer that claim highlights the edgy relationship between Leo, the first U.S.-born pope, and the Trump White House.
The dispute presents a challenge for senior Catholics in the Trump administration, including Vice President JD Vance: how to balance criticism by the head of their faith with their loyalties to President Donald Trump, who has bristled at Leo’s rebukes
Burch, who led Catholic Vote, a political advocacy group that helped elect Trump, before being named ambassador to the Holy See, has sought to minimize any rift between the White House and the Vatican.
Leo has also tried to avoid portraying himself as being in a personal rift with the White House, while at the same time becoming increasingly vocal in criticizing specific administration policies.
The pope, for instance, has repeatedly, and in increasingly sharp terms, denounced the war in Iran, taking the administration to task for claiming God is on its side in the conflict. During his recent trip to Spain, Leo also argued that the U.S.-led military campaign did not meet the church’s definition of a “just war.”
Tornielli’s op-ed, published by Vatican News — the Holy See’s official news outlet — did not mention Burch by name. But it squarely countered his argument, calling it “misleading” to claim the pope had spoken as a political leader not as the head of the Catholic church.
“Any glorification or exaggeration of the Pope’s role as head of state, any emphasis on the importance of this role, is … misleading because it comes at the expense of his one true mission as universal Shepherd,” Tornielli wrote.
“Even when he speaks about war and peace, migration or how to remain human in the age of artificial intelligence, the Successor of Peter remains, above all, a spiritual leader,” Tornielli also wrote.
Last year, Leo also criticized the administration’s migrant crackdown as “inhuman.” Tornielli argued that it was clear when the pope issues such comments, he is always doing so as a spiritual leader.
“The Successor of Peter is not speaking as a head of state,” Tornielli wrote. “He is simply proclaiming the Gospel.”
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