Trump attacks Pope Leo over Iran war criticism, calls pontiff 'weak on crime'
US President Donald Trump criticized Pope Leo on April 14, 2026, calling him "terrible" on foreign policy and "weak on crime" after the pontiff suggested a "delusion of omnipotence" is driving US-Israel military action in Iran. Trump stated the first American pope "should get his act together as Pope." The exchange reflects escalating tensions between the Trump administration and the Vatican over US military strategy in the Middle East. Pope Leo's weekend comments marked a rare direct papal critique of current US foreign policy.
Verified
- ✓Trump attacked Pope Leo, calling him 'terrible' on foreign policy. (Source: DW News clip description)
- ✓Trump characterized the pope as 'weak on Crime.' (Source: DW News clip description)
- ✓Pope Leo suggested a 'delusion of omnipotence' is fueling US-Israel war in Iran. (Source: DW News clip description)
- ✓Pope Leo is the first American pontiff. (Source: DW News clip description)
- ✓35 US mainstream media articles covered this story as of April 14, 2026. (Source: TopNewsClips metadata)
Interpretation
- ~The exchange reflects escalating tensions between the Trump administration and the Vatican over US military strategy. (Source: Contextual inference from clip data — not independently verified in provided materials)
▸▾Why this is here
- Source type
- Public Broadcaster (Tier 3)
- Content type
- Reported
- Confidence
- Corroborated
- Coverage
- 3 of 14 major US outlets
- Published
- April 13, 2026 at 7:08 PM PDT
Confidence labels explain how settled this information is. Learn about our confidence system → · What qualifies a story →
Get stories like this every morning.
Free daily briefing — 5 minutes, no spin.