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Pope Leo XIV said Saturday that it was “not in my interest at all” to continue his feud with President Trump over the Iran war, after Trump posted a series of social media posts swiping at the pontiff.
Leo, the first US pope, claimed he wasn’t directly targeting Trump or the US when he preached earlier this month that God does not hear the prayers of disdainful world leaders with “hands full of blood” or those “who wage war,” a sermon that triggered a back-and-forth with the President.
The Chicago-born pontiff claimed he was simply spreading a message for global peace and the suspension of all wars, not specifically the war in Iran.
“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” Leo told reporters aboard the papal plane flying from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day tour of Africa.
“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”
Leo referred to unusually forceful statements he made earlier this week in Cameroon in which he blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”
The remarks came in the middle of his feud with Trump — and on the heels of the controversial AI-generated image Trump shared of himself as a Jesus-like figure — but Leo claimed he had written and prepared his speech two weeks before his visit to the war-torn country.
“And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all,” he said, adding he would continue to call for world peace.
“I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all the Catholics throughout Africa.”
The Vatican has also stressed that Leo was referring to all conflicts across the globe when he preached about peace — though the pontiff has specifically called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable.”
The squabble between the pair erupted last month when Leo called the Iran conflict “atrocious” and said Jesus cannot be used to justify any wars. He had also previously said “idolatry of self” and “delusion of omnipotence” were at play in the US-Israel war in Iran.
Trump fired back in a lengthy Truth Social post slamming Leo as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” and saying he doesn’t “want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.”
Leo arrived later Saturday in Angola, which was ravaged by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002 but has left deep scars.
The pope will meet with Angolan President Joao Lourenco and deliver his first speech before government authorities. It is the third stop on his four-nation tour.
English (US)