In the first response to US President Donald Trump’s harsh criticism of Pope Leo XIV, a Vatican official said on Monday (13) that the American leader was attacking “a moral voice” because he “cannot contain it”.
“Trump does not debate with Leo: he begs the Pope to take refuge in a language that he can master. But the Pope speaks another language, one that refuses to be reduced to the grammar of force, security, national interest”, said the priest and undersecretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, Antonio Spadaro, in X.
Donald J. targets XIV—and in doing so, reveals a deeper unease. When political power turns against a moral voice, it is often because it cannot contain it. Trump does not argue with Leo; he implores him to return to a language he can control. But the Pope speaks…
— Antonio Spadaro (@antoniospadaro)
Leo XIII, the first American pope, has been increasingly outspoken about anti-Iran actions, last week condemning Trump’s actions against the Iranian people as “truly unacceptable.”
Speaking on Sunday night (12), while the pontiff was preparing for a 10-day trip to four African countries.
“We don’t like a pope who says it’s acceptable to have a nuclear weapon. … He’s a man who doesn’t think we should play with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so it can destroy the world.”
On the social network Truth Social, the republican called Leão “weak in fighting crime” and “terrible at foreign policy”.
Christopher Lamb, correspondent for CNN at the Vatican accompanying Pope Leo XIII, said he “doesn’t remember the last time the president of the United States attacked a pope in this way.”
Lamb stated that Pope Leo XIII is “a kind of spiritual and diplomatic counterweight to President Trump”, noting that his “and his priorities contrast with those of the President of the United States”.
Pope Leo XIII is set to become the first pope to visit Algeria, a Muslim-majority country, before heading to Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
“The contrast between an American pope in Algeria, a Muslim country, at a time when the US is involved in a military operation in Iran, is stark,” Lamb said.
Lamb said the pontiff’s statements about the war are “resonating in America.”
“And obviously President Trump responded in a very strong and unprecedented way,” Lamb said.
