President Donald Trump launched a new tirade against Pope Leo XIV in a Monday interview with CBS News.
The president first attacked the American-born pope on Sunday, publishing a 334-word rant on Truth Social in which he condemned Leo for being “weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy” and took credit for his success.
Arguing that his election as pope came as a “shocking surprise,” Trump, 79, wrote that “Leo should be thankful,” claiming that “he wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
Speaking to CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell on Monday, the president refused to back down, despite facing backlash from his own supporters.
“He’s wrong on the issues,” Trump said of the pope, adding, “I don’t think he should be getting into politics. I think he probably learned that from this.” He also revealed that he had no plans to call the pope directly.
Asked about his thoughts on Trump’s meltdown on Monday, Leo said that he did not fear the president or his administration.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”
In his interview with O’Donnell, the president also addressed the bizarre AI-generated image of himself as Jesus that he shared on Truth Social shortly after his rant.
The image, which has since been deleted, depicted Trump as Jesus Christ healing a patient in a hospital bed. It immediately sparked backlash, including from Trump’s own supporters, with many arguing that it was disrespectful and even blasphemous.
“It’s more than blasphemy,” former MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X. “It’s an Antichrist spirit.” Right-wing activist and former swimmer Riley Gaines said that she couldn’t understand why the president shared the image, adding that “a little humility would serve him well.”
Asked about the backlash, the president said that he thought the image was by “a very beautiful, talented artist, and that it depicted him as a doctor, not as Jesus Christ.
“I viewed that as a picture of me being a doctor in fixing — you had the Red Cross right there, you had, you know, medical people surrounding me,” Trump told O’Donnell. “And I was like the doctor, you know, as a little fun playing the doctor and making people better. So that’s what it was viewed as. That’s what most people thought.”
When asked why he removed the image, the president replied, “Normally I don’t like doing that, but I didn’t want to have anybody be confused. People were confused.”
He added that Gaines’ criticism did not factor into his decision at all, telling O’Donnell, “I didn’t listen to Riley Gaines. I’m not a big fan of Riley, actually.”
The president told O’Donnell that he believes he has “done more for the Catholic Church than any president in the last hundred years,” referencing government aid the U.S. Catholic Church received during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“During COVID I gave them billions of dollars. They were gonna go under. I gave them billions of dollars for education and that’s not the right way to treat somebody that’s been so good.”
Without naming him directly, the pope has been highly critical of many of Trump’s policies, calling his hardline immigration policy “extremely disrespectful,” and repeatedly urging for peace and justice to prevail in countries impacted by the president’s foreign policy, including Venezuela and Iran.
Several prominent American cardinals echoed the pope’s criticisms during Sunday night’s edition of 60 Minutes, which aired moments before Trump posted his tirade against the pope. The president confirmed to CBS News on Monday that he had watched the episode before firing off his tirade against the pope.
Asked by CBS if Pope Leo would visit the U.S. during his presidency, Trump said he had no idea.
“It’s up to him, not up to me.”
