Pope Leo XIV has publicly responded after President Donald Trump made baseless claims that the Chicago-born pontiff supports Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
The president doubled down on his attacks on the pope on Monday, claiming that the pope believes that Iran should have nuclear weapons.
“Well, the pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good,” Trump told Salem News Channel’s Hugh Hewitt, when asked why Leo has not spoken about jailed Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai.
“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 continued.
Without responding to Trump’s comments directly, Leo said: “I have already spoken from the first moment ‘Peace be with you.’ The mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If anyone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully.
“The Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt about that,” he added.
While he pope did not name Trump, his comments were a clear rebuke of the president, issued just days before Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to visit the Vatican.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Rubio will travel to Rome on Wednesday and is set to meet with the pope on Thursday morning. “Secretary Rubio will meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement to Reuters.
Trump, 79, has repeatedly claimed that the pope supports Iran’s nuclear weapons program, pointing to the pontiff’s calls for peace as proof.
Leo has specifically called for a world “free from the nuclear threat” and encouraged world leaders to take the “path of dialogue and diplomacy.”
“It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned, and deadly actions are decided,” Leo told Catholics gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 12.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote in a lengthy Truth Social rant the next day where he also took credit for the pope’s success.
Rubio used Tuesday’s press briefing, where he was filling in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, to defend Trump’s remarks about the pope.
“The president recently said that the pope is endangering a lot of Catholics as a result of his rhetoric around the Iran war,” a CNN reporter began asking, before Rubio cut in.
“Well, I don’t think that’s an accurate description of what he said,” Rubio replied. “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.”
He went on to accuse Iran of “holding the whole world hostage” with its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, adding that neither he nor the president can “understand why anyone would think that it’s a good idea for Iran to ever have a nuclear weapon.”
“What do you think they would do if they had a nuclear weapon? They would hold the world hostage with that nuclear weapon. That’s what they would do,” Rubio told reporters.
