Pope Leo has said it was “not in my interest at all” to get into a debate with President Donald Trump about the United States war with Iran, and he would continue to preach the gospel.
“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” Leo told The Associated Press Saturday as he traveled to Angola during his 11-day African tour.
“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”
Leo was addressing this past week’s Truth Social messages from Trump where he attacked the American-born pope as “WEAK", accused him of "catering to the Radical Left" on crime and falsely claimed the Catholic leader wants a nuclear-armed Iran.
“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. I’m not a fan of Pope Leo," Trump said.
Leo has issued consistent calls for peace and dialogue, and denounced the use of religious justification for war. Specifically, he called Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable” and said he is not afraid of the Trump administration.
The pontiff also pushed back against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he called on Americans to pray for U.S. victory in Iran "in the name of Jesus Christ."
On Thursday in Cameroon, the Pope commented that the people of the world are suffering under a scourge of "tyrants" and warmongers.
His comments were broadly interpreted to be a criticism of Trump and the U.S. war in Iran but Leo said he had written those words two weeks ago, before Trump began criticizing him.
“And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all,” Leo told reporters Saturday. “I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church, to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all the Catholics throughout Africa.”
Amid his attacks on Leo this week, Trump caused further outrage among Christians by posting an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus healing a sick man on Truth Social. The president later deleted the image and claimed he thought it was an image of himself as a doctor.
“I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support,” Trump told reporters. “It’s supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. I make people a lot better.”
Trump officials leapt to the president’s defense following the furor including Vice President JD Vance who converted to Catholicism in 2019. Vance said Tuesday that Leo should “stick to matters of morality” and stay out of politics.
The Independent has requested comment from the White House.
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