Donald Trump raged at the “weak” Pope Leo XIV in an unhinged Truth Social rant moments after a 60 Minutes segment highlighting the Catholic leader’s criticisms of the U.S. president.
Trump, 79, listed his apparent reasons for disliking the Chicago-born pontiff in his 334-word screed, after the 60 Minutes segment featured top American Cardinals Robert McElroy, Jeffrey Tobin, and Blase Cupich echoing the pope’s criticisms of several Trump administration policies.
Trump once again took credit for Leo’s election as pope, arguing that it came as a “shocking surprise.”
“Leo should be thankful,” Trump wrote, 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.”
“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” he continued.
The president also praised Leo’s brother, Louis Prevost, whom the Daily Beast revealed to be a vocal supporter of Trump’s last May.
“I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA,” Trump wrote. “He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!” he added, before condemning Leo for “think[ing] it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon” and thinking “it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela.” The pope has not expressed support for Iran’s nuclear weapons program, instead calling for justice and peace to prevail in both Iran and Venezuela.
“I don’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, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”
The president ended his rant with a call for Leo to “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
The president, who has a 37 percent approval rating, added, “It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
Asked by reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Sunday night why he attacked the pope, Trump repeated much of what he wrote on Truth Social, telling reporters, “I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime I guess... We don’t like a pope who’s going to say it’s ok to have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want a pope that says crime is ok in our cities. I am not a fan of Pope Leo.”
“He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man who doesn’t believe in stopping crime.”
In a statement published late Sunday evening, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said of Trump’s post, “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father.”
“Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”
Pope Leo has ramped up his calls for peace and stability as Trump has continued to wage war on Iran.
Speaking to some 10,000 worshippers in St Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, Leo called on world leaders to “sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned, and deadly actions are decided.”
The week prior, he used his address on Easter Sunday to call for peace. “Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!” he told the crowd gathered in Rome.
Three American cardinals voiced similar sentiments on Sunday night’s episode of 60 Minutes in their interview with correspondent Norah O’Donnell.
Cardinal Robert McElroy expressed concern about the possibility of “war after war after war” and argued that Trump’s war on Iran was not justified according to Catholic doctrine.
Cardinal Blase Cupich raised the alarm about what he argued was the “gamification” of war, demonstrated by the White House’s decision to post videos splicing footage of strikes alongside footage taken from video games and Hollywood blockbusters.
“We’re dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people and the killing of children and our own soldiers into entertainment,” Cupich told O’Donnell, calling the videos shared by the White House “sickening.”
Newark Archbishop Cardinal Joseph Tobin, who previously called for ICE to be defunded and described it as a “lawless organization,” doubled down on his criticisms in the interview.
“When people act in this way, when they have to hide their identities to terrify people, when they can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, well I think somebody’s got to call that out and I’m not the only one,” he said.
In addition to Trump’s war on Iran and invasion of Venezuela, Pope Leo has also criticized Trump’s hardline immigration policies, calling them “extremely disrespectful,” adding that the instances of violence being used against detainees were troubling.
“We have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have.”
The president’s rant is in stark contrast to the comments he made when Leo was named pope in May, 2025, calling the event “a great honor for our country,” and adding that he looked forward to meeting him.
It was also a departure from his tone in a December interview with Politico, in which he said he hadn’t seen any of the pope’s criticisms of his immigration policies but that he was “sure he’s a lovely man.”
