Administration

Trump: I don’t owe Pope Leo an apology

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by Mallory Wilson - 04/13/26 1:43 PM ET

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by Mallory Wilson - 04/13/26 1:43 PM ET

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President Trump said Monday that he will not apologize for his criticism of Pope Leo XIV after calling him “weak” because the pope spoke out against the Iran war.

Trump told reporters outside the Oval Office when asked if he owes the first American pope in history an apology, “No, I don’t.”

“Because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I’m doing with with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran,” Trump said. “Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result.”

The president posted a lengthy Truth Social post criticizing the pope on Sunday, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he wrote. “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela.”

Trump told reporters that he was “just responding to Pope Leo,” who went public with his disagreement about the Iran war.

“So, we believe strongly in law and order,” Trump said. “And he seemed to have a problem with that, so there’s nothing to apologize for. He’s wrong.”

He also reiterated that he prefers the pope’s brother, Louis Prevost, better because he is “a big MAGA person, and he’s a great guy.”

Trump in his social media post said of the pope’s brother: “He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!”

The pope on Saturday denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the war with Iran.

On Monday he pushed back on Trump’s criticism, saying he does not have “fear of the Trump administration.”

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