Pope Leo XIV on Monday said he “will continue to speak out loudly against war,” hours after President Donald Trump launched an attack against him on social media, adding that he has “no fear of the Trump administration.”
The first U.S.-born pontiff in the history of the Catholic Church, who has been critical of Trump’s war in Iran, condemned the killings of innocent civilians around the world, adding that “someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way,” according to Reuters.
“The message of the church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the Peacemakers. I do not look at my role as being political, a politician,” he said on a flight to Algiers. “I don’t want to get into a debate with him. I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing.”
“I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems,” he added, according to Reuters.
Trump called the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday that came after the broadcast of a “60 Minutes” report that featured a joint interview with three American cardinals who discussed the pontiff’s emergence as an outspoken critic of the president and his policies, including the Iran conflict and his mass deportation campaign.
