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By Giulia Carbonaro
Senior Reporter
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President Donald Trump has renewed his feud with Pope Leo XIV, urging him to learn about the Iran war.
“Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Thank you for your attention to this matter. AMERICA IS BACK!!!”
Pope Leo, the first American-born pope, has strongly condemned the conflict in the Middle East and the “delusion of omnipotence” that caused it, saying it has led to “absurd and inhuman violence.”
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His criticism of the war has put him on a collision course with Trump, who recently called on the pontiff 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.”
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Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, has also intervened into the ongoing dispute with the pontiff to defend the Trump administration. On Tuesday, he told a conservative audience at the University of Georgia that Pope Leo was wrong to say—as he did on a recent post on X—that disciples of Christ are “never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
“Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis?” Vance asked. “I certainly think the answer is yes.”
At an event in Athens, Georgia, hosted by conservative group TurningPoint USA earlier this week, Vance had said that if Leo was “going to opine on matters of theology,” his comments needed to be “anchored in the truth.”
“In the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said.
Were 42,000 Iranians Killed, As Trump Said?
Between late December and January, Iran was shaken by a series of nationwide protests against the regime fueled by growing economic woes. The demonstrations were violently repressed by the government, then led by Ali Khamenei, with thousands of protesters being arrested and just as many reportedly killed.
Estimates of those killed in the protests vary, and there is no clear evidence to support Trump’s claim that 42,000 Iranians were killed by the regime. During a public speech on January 17, Khamenei said “thousands of people” were killed, as reported by Amnesty International.
A few days later, on 21 January, Iran’s Supreme Council of National Security issued a statement saying that 3,117 people were killed during the protests.
Other sources put the number much higher. The UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Mai Sato, said in an interview on January 16 that at least 5,000 people had been killed, but based on information from medical sources the death toll could have been as high as 20,000.
Trump had previously claimed that 32,000 had been killed.
Shortly after launching joint strikes on the country together with Israel, Trump had spoken about attacking Iran in support of those in the country protesting against the regime. After the killing of Khamenei in the strikes, Trump urged Iranians to take the chance to “take back your country,” vowing the U.S. will “be there to help.”
The Trump administration has since stated different goals of the war, including destroying Iran’s ballistic missiles and their navy, and preventing the country from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.
A Widening White House-Holy See Rift
Trump and Vance’s latest criticism of Pope Leo comes after a tumultuous week for the U.S.-Vatican relationship.
First, reports emerged of a tense meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials in January during which Cardinal Christophe Pierre, then the pontiff’s U.S. ambassador, was rebuked for Leo’s state-of-the-world address that same month, which was seen as criticizing Trump.
Pentagon officials confirmed the meeting took place, but said that reports of it were exaggerated.
By Sunday, however, the president was fueling the flame of the ongoing debate. “I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime.”
Later that same night, he doubled down on his criticism of the pontiff, calling him “weak” on crime and “terrible” for foreign policy.
In a lengthy post on Truth Social, he wrote: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.”
Talking to reporters while aboard the papal plane on Monday, Pope Leo hit back at the president saying he was “not afraid” of the Trump administration, vowing to continue speaking out against the war in Iran.
Without mentioning Trump or Vance, the pontiff wrote on Tuesday on X: “God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud. God’s heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them He builds up His Kingdom of love and peace day by day. Wherever there is love and service, God is there.”
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