Fact check: Trump falsely claims Pope Leo said Iran can have a nuclear weapon

By Daniel Dale, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump continued his criticism of Pope Leo XIV on Thursday – in part by making a false claim about the pope’s stance on nuclear weapons.

Asked by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins why he is fighting with the pope, Trump said he has “nothing against the pope” but that “I have to do what’s right.” He added moments later: “I’m not fighting with him. The pope made a statement. He says, Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump’s claim about the pope’s words is not true, as Collins immediately pointed out to him.

Pope Leo hasn’t made any statement saying Iran can have a nuclear weapon. In fact, the pope has repeatedly denounced nuclear weapons and made unequivocal calls for the countries of the world to abandon them.

The pope has also spoken out against the war the US and Israel launched against Iran in late February. But having made statements calling for an end to the conflict is simply not the same as having made statements endorsing Iran having nuclear weapons; many critics of the war have argued that diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from developing these weapons.

Trump is free to argue that they’re wrong. But it’s incorrect to claim this position inherently means they’ve actually said Iran can have nuclear weapons.

Pope Leo has repeatedly denounced nuclear weapons

The US-born Pope Leo, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected pope in May 2025. The next month, when Israel was on the verge of attacking Iran, he said, “The situation in Iran and Israel has deteriorated gravely, and in such a delicate moment, I would like to renew strongly an appeal to responsibility and reason. The commitment to creating a safer world, free from the nuclear threat, should be pursued through respectful encounter and sincere dialogue, to build a lasting peace, based on justice, fraternity and the common good.”

Days later, the pope said, “The Church is brokenhearted at the cry of pain rising from places devastated by war, especially Ukraine, Iran, Israel and Gaza. We must never get used to war! Indeed, the temptation to have recourse to powerful and sophisticated weapons needs to be rejected.” (He didn’t specifically mention nuclear weapons.)

In a July 2025 statement marking the 80th anniversary of the US nuclear bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Pope Leo said, “Though many years have passed, the two cities remain living reminders of the profound horrors wrought by nuclear weapons.” He also said, “Indeed, true peace demands the courageous laying down of weapons – especially those with the power to cause an indescribable catastrophe. Nuclear arms offend our shared humanity and also betray the dignity of creation, whose harmony we are called to safeguard.” And he called to “reject the illusion of security founded on mutually assured destruction.”

The Vatican’s representative to the United Nations, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, said in October 2025, “The Holy See affirms its unwavering conviction that efforts to control, limit, reduce, and eventually eliminate nuclear weapons are not an unrealistic prospect, but a possibility and an urgent moral imperative.”

In a January 2026 statement for the World Day of Peace, Pope Leo said, “The idea of the deterrent power of military might, especially nuclear deterrence, is based on the irrationality of relations between nations, built not on law, justice and trust, but on fear and domination by force.”

In February 2026, the pope urged the US and Russia not to let the expiring New START nuclear arms treaty lapse without a follow-up deal, saying the treaty was a “significant step in containing the proliferation of nuclear weapons” and that “the current situation requires that everything possible be done to avert a new arms race that would further threaten peace among nations.”

And in March 2026, Pope Leo posted on social media platform X, “Let us #PrayTogether that nations move toward effective disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, and that world leaders choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy instead of violence.”

From ‘thinks’ to ‘gonna say’ to ‘says’

Trump’s claims about Pope Leo’s supposed position on Iran having a nuclear weapon have escalated over the course of this week.

In a social media post Sunday night in which he criticized the pope at length, Trump wrote, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” Later that night, Trump told reporters, “We don’t like a pope that’s gonna say that it’s okay to have a nuclear weapon.”

Those claims – about what the pope supposedly thinks and what the pope is supposedly going to say in the future – were not definitively debunkable. This time, though, he claimed Pope Leo had said it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The pope hadn’t.

The-CNN-Wire
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