Trump
accuses pope of ‘endangering a lot of Catholics’ with Iran stance
US
president directs fresh criticism at pontiff days before secretary of state
Marco Rubio’s visit to Vatican
Angela
Giuffrida in Rome
Tue 5 May
2026 13.24 BST
Donald
Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the
pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for
Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.
The
remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo
at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous
broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the
US-Israeli war on Iran.
Speaking
to Hugh Hewitt, a prominent conservative radio talkshow host on the US-based
Salem News network, Trump said the pope “would rather talk about the fact that
it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good”.
“I think
he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people,” the US president
added. “But I guess if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran
to have a nuclear weapon.”
Leo has
never said that Iran should have nuclear weapons, but has repeatedly opposed
the war on the country and the subsequent escalation of the conflict in Lebanon
and the wider Middle East, calling for ceasefires and dialogue.
Brian
Burch, the US ambassador to the Holy See, said on Tuesday that he expected a
“frank” meeting between Rubio, a Catholic, and Leo at the Apostolic Palace on
Thursday morning.
“Nations
have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is
… through fraternity and authentic dialogue,” Burch told reporters, adding that
he thought Rubio was coming to the Vatican “in that spirit, to have a frank
conversation about US policy, to engage in dialogue”.
Burch
said he did not accept the idea that there was “some deep rift” between the US
and the Vatican, saying that Rubio was coming so that each side could “better
understand each other, and to work through, if there are differences, certainly
to talk through that”.
The trip,
which coincides with the first anniversary of Leo’s papacy, was organised after
Trump lashed out at the pope in April, calling him weak and saying he was not
doing a very good job as pontiff. Trump also shared an AI-generated image
depicting himself as Christ, before deleting it and saying it had actually been
a portrayal of him as a doctor.
Rubio
will also endeavour to patch things up with the Italian government after Trump
berated its prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, previously one of his closest
allies in Europe, for calling out his remarks against Leo, rebuking her
government for not supporting the strikes on Iran and threatening to withdraw
US troops from Italy as a result.
Rubio
will also meet the Vatican’s secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, before meeting
Meloni and the Italian foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, on Friday morning.
The US
vice-president, JD Vance – a Catholic convert – has also criticised the pope,
saying the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality” and that Leo should be
careful when it came to talking about theology and war.
Rubio and
Vance attended the pope’s inauguration in May last year and had a private
audience with him the day after, during which they handed him an invitation
from Trump to the White House that Leo has not yet taken up.
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