Trump Says Pope Leo Xiv Is Endangering Catholics

Donald Trump renewed his criticism of pope leo xiv in an interview with radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt recorded on Monday, saying the pontiff was “endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.” Trump tied the attack to Iran and repeated a dispute that has already spilled into Catholic politics.

Trump said, “The Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” He added, “I don’t think that’s very good,” and then said, “I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.” Leo has never said that he is comfortable with Iran having nuclear weapons.

Trump and Leo XIV

The Monday remarks followed Trump’s earlier attack a few weeks earlier, when he described Leo as someone who “likes crime,” caters to “to the Radical Left,” is taking steps that are “hurting the Catholic Church” and has met with “Obama Sympathizers.” The repeated criticism puts a public clash between the president and the pontiff back in front of Catholic voters, who the reported are divided by the rift.

The same reporting said the dispute is threatening to cost the Republican Party some of its support from Catholic voters in this year’s midterm elections. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans had a negative reaction to Trump’s earlier comments, according to a Washington Post-Ipsos poll, and the reaction did not help him politically.

Marco Rubio in Rome

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to meet with the pope this week. That meeting gives the White House a separate diplomatic track from Trump’s public criticism, and it places Rubio at the center of a trip to Rome that now carries added attention because of the president’s remarks.

For Catholic voters, the immediate question is not the theology Trump invoked but the political damage around it: whether a president’s criticism of the pontiff hardens an existing split or deepens it before this year’s midterm elections. Rubio’s meeting this week is the next fixed point in the story.