Donald Trump has falsely claimed Pope Leo wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon and absurdly insisted he is not fighting with the pontiff, despite days of escalating attacks.
Speaking at the White House before heading to Las Vegas, the president downplayed his feud with the Vatican amid a growing backlash among Catholics—one of the crucial voting blocks that helped him get elected.
But the 79-year-old president opened up a new fissure in his dispute with the American-born pope, telling reporters: “I’m not fighting with him. The pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I’d say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
The bizarre comment sparked an immediate backlash online, with political observers noting that the pope said no such thing.
But Trump, who has a tendency to make things up on the fly, seemed to double down in his comments, declaring that he is “all about the gospel” but “I also know that you cannot let a certain country, which is a very mean spirited country, have a nuclear weapon.”
“If they did, they would use it, and I think they used it quickly, and they would kill many millions of people,” he said, later adding: “The pope has to understand, Iran has killed more than 42,000 people over the last few months.”
Trump’s remarks came as tensions between Trump and the Vatican have sharply escalated. Trump has repeatedly attacked the pope, calling him “weak on crime” and accusing him of catering to the “radical left,” while also claiming Leo’s election was tied to U.S. political dynamics.
The pope, in turn, responded that he has “no fear” of the Trump administration and will continue to speak out against war and what he has described as a “delusion of omnipotence” driving global conflict.
But Trump insisted on Thursday: “I’m not fighting with him. I can disagree with the pope. I have a right to disagree with the pope. This is the real world. It’s a nasty world. If the pope would allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, he cannot do that.”
The president’s attacks have resulted in administration officials also weighing in, including Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, who suggested this week that the pope should stay in his lane.
On Thursday, one of Trump’s top religious allies, Franklin Graham, also waded into the debate, suggesting that the pair should set up a meeting so that Pope Leo could express his gratitude to Trump for his work on religious liberty.
“He is the most pro-Christian, pro-life president in my lifetime, and he doesn’t shy away from it. I would hope that the President and Pope Leo can meet at some point, and that the Pope would have the opportunity to thank the President for his efforts to protect religious liberty for Catholics and people of all faiths,” said Graham, the son of famed Evangelist Billy Graham.
But Pope Leo appeared to double down on Thursday, saying the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” and decrying world leaders who “manipulate” religion and the name of God for military gain.
“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” Leo said during his four-country tour of Africa.
“It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.”
