VATICAN CITY – Pope Leo last May became the first U.S.-born leader of the global Catholic Church, but for the initial 10 months of his tenure he mostly avoided comment about his home country and never once mentioned President Donald Trump publicly.
That era has come to an end.
In recent weeks the pope has emerged as a sharp critic of the Iran war. He named Trump, for the first time publicly, on March 31 in a direct appeal urging the president to end the expanding conflict. It is a significant shift in tone and approach that experts said indicated that the pope wanted to serve as a counterweight on the world stage to Trump and his foreign policy aims.
‘I don’t think he wants the Vatican to be accused of being soft on Trumpism because he’s an American,’ said Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who follows the Vatican closely.
Pope Leo XIV named President Donald Trump, for the first time publicly, on March 31 in a direct appeal urging the president to end the expanding war in the Middle East. Guglielmo Mangiapane/REUTERS
Leo, known for choosing his words carefully, urged Trump to find an ‘off-ramp’ to end the war, using an American colloquialism the president and administration officials would understand.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, a close ally of Leo’s, told Reuters the pope was taking up the mantle of a long line of pontiffs who have urged world leaders to turn away from war.
‘What is different … is the voice of the messenger, for now Americans and the entire English-speaking world are hearing the message in an idiom familiar to them,’ said the cardinal.
Two days before appealing to Trump directly, Leo said God rejected the prayers of leaders who start wars and have ‘hands full of blood,’ in unusually forceful remarks for a Catholic pontiff.
Those comments were interpreted by conservative Catholic commentators as aimed at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who has invoked Christian language to justify the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran that initiated the war.
They also led to one of the Trump administration’s first direct responses to a comment by Leo.
‘I don’t think there is anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members,’ White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, when asked about the pope’s remarks.
Marie Dennis, a former leader of the international Catholic peace movement Pax Christi, said Leo’s most recent comments and his direct appeal to Trump ‘reflect a heart broken by unrelenting violence.’
‘He is reaching out to all who are exhausted by this unrelenting violence and are hungry for courageous leadership,’ she said.
Leo had previously taken aim at Trump’s hard-line immigration policies, questioning whether they were in line with the Church’s pro-life teachings. In those comments, which drew backlash from conservative Catholics, he refrained from naming Trump or any administration official directly.
Leo has been ramping up his criticism of the Iran war for weeks.
He said on March 13 that Christian political leaders who start wars should go to confession and assess whether they are following the teachings of Jesus.
Be the first to comment