This article originally appeared on the Daily Caller News Foundation and was republished with permission.
Guest post by John Loftus
Pope Leo XIV responded early Monday after President Donald Trump launched a shocking broadside against the papacy in a Truth Social post Sunday.
In his most public and intense criticism of Leo on Sunday, Trump attacked the spiritual head of the Catholic Church as “weak” and “terrible” because of his opposition to the Iran War. Leo told reporters Monday that the Vatican’s calls for peace are rooted in the Gospel, and that he does not fear the Trump administration’s retaliation.
“I will not enter into debate. The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone. The message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,’” Leo said. “I will not shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel and inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges of peace and reconciliation, and looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.”
“I have no fear of the Trump administration,” he added.
Trump also mocked Christianity by reposting a picture of himself as Jesus after he initially attacked Leo. Notably, Sunday was Orthodox Easter.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump began his rant.
“I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!” the president continued, referring to the pontiff’s older brother Louis Prevost, a Trump supporter living in Florida. “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, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History,” he added.
Trump suggested that “Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise.”
“He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump,” he claimed. “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
“Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should 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. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!” Trump concluded.
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