The White House and the Holy See are on a collision course. Two days before the US Secretary of State meets Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, President Donald Trump has launched a fresh verbal attack against the pontiff, accusing him of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
The problem is, the pope never said that.
Speaking to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on the Salem News network, Trump said 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.” The president added, “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.”
Leo has never said that Iran should have nuclear weapons. What he has done is repeatedly oppose the US-Israeli war on Iran and the subsequent escalation of the conflict in Lebanon and the wider Middle East, calling instead for ceasefires and dialogue. For Trump, that distinction appears to be irrelevant.
The Upcoming Meeting
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, will meet the Pope at the Vatican on Thursday morning. The meeting is meant to ease tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the war.
Brian Burch, the US ambassador to the Holy See, said he expected a “frank” meeting. “Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is through fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Burch told reporters, adding that he thought Rubio was coming to the Vatican “in that spirit, to have a frank conversation about US policy, to engage in dialogue.”
Burch said he did not accept the idea that there was “some deep rift” between the US and the Vatican. But the president’s own words suggest otherwise.
A Pattern of Attacks
The latest attack is not an isolated incident. The trip to Rome coincides with the first anniversary of Leo’s papacy. It was organised after Trump lashed out at the pope in April, calling him weak and saying he was not doing a very good job as pontiff. Trump also shared an AI-generated image depicting himself as Christ — before deleting it and claiming it had actually been a portrayal of him as a doctor.
That is not diplomacy. That is provocation.
US Vice President JD Vance — a Catholic convert — has also criticised the pope, saying the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality” and that Leo should be careful when it comes to talking about theology and war. Rubio and Vance attended the pope’s inauguration in May last year and had a private audience with him the day after, during which they handed him an invitation from Trump to the White House. Leo has not yet taken up that invitation.
The Wider Fallout
Rubio will also endeavor to patch things up with the Italian government after Trump berated its prime minister, Giorgia Meloni — previously one of his closest allies in Europe — for calling out his remarks against Leo. Trump has also rebuked Meloni’s government for not supporting the strikes on Iran and threatened to withdraw US troops from Italy as a result.
Rubio will meet the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, before meeting Meloni and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday morning. The agenda is full. The tensions are high. And the president’s words hang over every conversation.
The Bottom Line
President Trump has accused Pope Leo XIV of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because, in Trump’s telling, the pope “thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” The pope has never said that. He has opposed the US-Israeli war on Iran and called for ceasefires and dialogue. Trump’s latest attack comes two days before Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets the pope at the Vatican.
The meeting is meant to ease tensions after Trump previously called the pope “weak” and shared an AI-generated image of himself as Christ. Vice President JD Vance has also criticised the Pope. Rubio and Vance attended Leo’s inauguration, but the pope has not accepted an invitation to the White House.
