Pope Leo XIV publicly pushed back at Donald Trump from Italy on Wednesday after the US president claimed the pontiff was effectively backing a nuclear armed Iran and 'endangering Catholics'. The pope insisted the Church has long opposed all nuclear weapons and told critics to 'tell the truth'. The clash came just days before Pope Leo XIV was due to meet US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the pope over his anti war stance on Iran, casting the Vatican's calls for de escalation as naive and dangerous. In his latest broadside, delivered in a US radio interview, the president suggested Pope Leo XIV's position on the conflict meant he was comfortable with Tehran acquiring a nuclear weapon. The pope has now rejected that claim in unusually blunt on camera remarks.
Pope Denies Iran Claim
Speaking to Salem News Network host Hugh Hewitt, Trump claimed the pontiff was effectively siding with Iran's nuclear ambitions. 'The pope would rather talk about the fact that it's OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don't think that's very good,' Trump said. 'I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it's up to the pope, he thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.'
There is no public record of Pope Leo XIV endorsing an Iranian bomb, and the Vatican has long aligned itself with global nuclear disarmament efforts. Trump did not cite any quotation or document to support his accusation. Instead, he presented it as his own reading of the pope's anti war position.
Pope Leo XIV responded outside the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, in the hills south east of Rome. He did not mention Trump by name, but the target was clear. 'The mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace. If someone wants to criticise me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully,' he said.
Pope Leo XIV tonight in Castel Gandolfo:
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) May 5, 2026
“I have been speaking out ever since I was elected. The anniversary is almost here. I said, ‘Peace be with you,' and the Church’s mission is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the… pic.twitter.com/i2eK9aojht
He then addressed the nuclear issue directly. 'For years, the Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt on that point.' The response appeared designed to shut down any suggestion that the Vatican is soft on Iran's atomic ambitions, while casting Trump's remarks as a distortion rather than a fair reading of Church policy.
The White House has not publicly produced evidence to support Trump's characterisation of the pope's views. For now, the claim remains an accusation rather than an established fact.
Rift Before Rubio Visit
The row lands awkwardly ahead of a scheduled face to face meeting between Pope Leo XIV and Marco Rubio, himself a practising Catholic. The meeting, set for Thursday at the Vatican, was already expected to cover the Iran conflict and wider foreign policy tensions.
Rubio moved quickly to soften Trump's language without openly contradicting him. Asked at a press conference about the president accusing the pope of 'endangering Catholics', the secretary of state replied: 'Well, I don't think that's an accurate description of what he said.' He argued that Trump's remarks had been misconstrued, though he did not offer a fuller explanation in the excerpts available.
US Ambassador to the Vatican Brian Burch also signalled that the disagreement would be addressed directly. He said Rubio and Pope Leo XIV were coming together for a 'frank' conversation about the Iran war and broader US policy. 'Nations have disagreements, and one way to work through them is through dialogue,' Burch said. 'I think the secretary is coming here in that spirit, to have a frank conversation about U.S. policy and engage in dialogue.'
The language was diplomatic, but the disagreement is clear. Washington and the Vatican are at odds over how sharply Iran should be confronted, and Trump's habit of personalising foreign policy disputes has now pulled the head of the Catholic Church into the political fight.
Culture War Flashpoint
Trump has not confined his criticism to Iran. According to the Irish Star report, he has also called Pope Leo XIV 'weak on crime' and 'terrible for foreign policy' because of the pope's consistent opposition to the war. Those attacks fold the pontiff into Trump's familiar culture war script, in which religious leaders who preach restraint are portrayed as detached from security realities.
Donald Trump’s long post on Pope Leo. pic.twitter.com/gVDHDTdgXd
— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) April 13, 2026
The president has already drawn criticism for blurring the line between political branding and religious imagery. He recently posted an AI generated picture of himself as a Christ like figure, before later claiming he thought the image showed him as a doctor. The episode highlighted how willing he is to play with sacred symbolism in service of his own narrative, even as he accuses the pope of endangering believers.
Tensions have also surfaced with Catholic figures in his own political orbit. US Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, has publicly clashed with Pope Leo XIV and last month warned that the pontiff should be 'careful when he talks about matters of theology'. The remark, from a lay politician to the head of the Catholic Church, showed how politicised religious authority has become around this White House.
Set against that backdrop, Pope Leo XIV's call for critics to 'tell the truth' reads less like a one off rebuttal and more like a direct attempt to push back against a wider pattern of misrepresentation. The next real test will come inside the Vatican, where Rubio and the pope must navigate both the substance of Iran policy and the fallout from a president willing to turn a theological opponent into a political target.
