Trump criticizes Pope Leo’s stance on Iran war, says he’s ‘not a fan’ of Catholic leader

By Laura Sharman, Isabelle D’Antonio, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump strongly criticized Pope Leo XIV on Sunday evening, denouncing his stance on the Iran war and saying he’s “terrible for foreign policy.”

“We don’t like a pope that’s going to say that it’s OK to have a nuclear weapon … He’s a man that doesn’t think that we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world,” Trump told reporters, adding, “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.”

Leo, the first American pope, has become increasingly vocal about the US and Israel’s war with Iran, last week condemning Trump’s rhetoric and threats against the people of Iran as “truly unacceptable.”

The president’s remarks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews came shortly after he posted a lengthy critique of the pope on Truth Social.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote, going on to say he doesn’t want a pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon or who thinks it’s “terrible that America attacked Venezuela.”

“And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States,” he added.

The president went on to claim Leo “wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

The-CNN-Wire
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