ROME — Ahead of a visit to Rome by Secretary of State Marco Rubio aimed partly at defusing tensions between the White House and the Vatican, President Donald Trump unleashed new criticism at Pope Leo XIV, suggesting the pontiff’s views on foreign policy are “endangering Catholics and a lot of people” and that he is “fine” with Iran having a nuclear weapon.
Leo quickly pushed back against the president’s latest remarks, painting them as untrue.
“Should anyone want to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, they should do so with the truth,” Leo told journalists outside the papal residence at Castel Gandolfo, 15 miles south of Rome. “For years the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there’s no doubt about it, there. So I simply hope to be listened to for the value of God’s word.”
The tense exchange again highlighted what Vatican officials have described privately as an unprecedented low in relations with the United States ahead of Rubio’s visit to Italy this week, including a scheduled audience with Leo on Thursday.
Direct criticism by an American president of the spiritual leader of the world’s Roman Catholics, who now number 1.4 billion, is exceedingly rare.
Rubio on Tuesday sought to dispel any suggestions of a rift, indicating that his meeting had been planned before Trump’s verbal attacks on the pope last month, which have raised pique in the halls of the Vatican and divided conservative Catholics in the United States. Trump upbraided Leo on social media after the pope and his proxies, including American bishops, repeatedly spoke out in favor of peace and against the invocation of God’s name to justify war.
Rubio conceded however, that “we had some stuff that happened” since the meeting was arranged.
In an interview Monday with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt, Trump said that “the pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good.”
“I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Rubio sought to clarify Trump’s remarks Tuesday, telling journalists: “I think what the president basically said is that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon because they would use it against places that have a lot of Catholics and Christians, and others for that matter.”
While Leo has spoken out against the U.S.-Israel war in Iran in increasingly vocal terms, and taken aim at invocations of God to defend war, he has never suggested that it is acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear bomb — a devastating weapon the Vatican has long opposed.
Trump’s latest comments follow more detailed criticism he leveled against Leo in April, in which he labeled the Chicago-born pontiff “WEAK on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy” in an attack that brought a flurry of rebukes.
Shortly after Trump delivered those comments, Leo told reporters that he has “no fear of the Trump administration.” He later made a series of speeches during his trip to Africa in which he decried “tyrants” who fund wars. Leo, however, later sought to lower the temperature, saying those remarks were not aimed at Trump.
Rubio said his meeting with the pope Thursday would revolve around a host of topics, including Africa following the pope’s recent trip, problems with distributing humanitarian aid in Cuba, as well as concerns over religious freedom.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Rome, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch said, “I donʼt accept the idea that somehow there’s some deep rift.”
“I think nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is, as the Holy See says, is through fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Burch said. “I think the secretary is coming here in that spirit, to have a frank conversation about U.S. policy, to engage in dialogue, to better understand each other and to work through — if there are differences — certainly to talk through that.”
Stefano Pitrelli contributed to this report.
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