Trump's week in review: Strait of Hormuz, Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, Jesus meme backlash

2. Trump calls Pope Leo ‘weak,’ pontiff responds

In another Truth Social message last Sunday, Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV as “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for foreign policy” in response to the pontiff’s ongoing criticism of U.S. military action in Iran. Trump also called on 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.” 

“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. And 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,” Trump added. 

The pontiff responded to Trump’s comments Monday, defending his criticism of the war in Iran. “I do believe that the message of the Gospel, blessed are the peacemakers, is a message that the world needs to hear today,” Leo told reporters on the papal plane. “I do not look at my role as being political. I don’t want to get into a debate with him.”

“I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states, to look for just solutions of the problems,” Leo vowed. “Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed, and I think someone has to stand up and say ‘there’s a better way to do this.’”