Donald Trump: If I Wasn’t In The White House, Pope Leo IV Wouldn’t Be In The Vatican.

Vatican City/Washington DC; April 2026: US President Donald Trump has published a lengthy social media post taking aim at Pope Leo XIV, calling him “terrible for foreign policy” and accusing him of “catering to the radical left”.

The unusual criticism of the head of the Catholic church follows remarks by Pope Leo, who urged an end to the war and criticised what he described as a “delusion of omnipotence” driving it during a prayer service yesterday. While he did not mention Trump by name, the message appeared directed at Trump and other US officials, who have boasted of US military strength and justified the war in religious terms.

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon”, Trump railed on Truth Social. “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician”. Trump has also claimed that Pope Leo, who became the first US born pontiff last year, owes his job to him. Pope Leo “was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican”, said Trump.

Meanwhile, yesterday (12th April 2026) the Holy Father Pope Leo IV at a Prayer Vigil For Peace had said: “I receive countless letters from children in areas of conflict. In reading them, one perceives, through the lens of innocence, all the horror and inhumanity of actions that some adults boast of with pride”.

The Pope had thanked all those present and all those praying from afar for praying for peace, noting that their prayer is an expression of that faith which, as Jesus reminded, moves mountains. He began by recalling that: “War divides; hope unites. Arrogance tramples upon others; love lifts up. Idolatry blinds us; the living God enlightens”. Yet, he reassured, “all it takes is a little faith, a mere ‘crumb’ of faith, in order to face this dramatic hour in history together — as humanity and alongside humanity”. He emphasised that prayer is not “a refuge in which to hide from our responsibilities, nor an anesthetic to numb the pain provoked by so much injustice”, but rather is “the most selfless, universal and transformative response to death”.

Faced with massacres and wars caused by the idolatry of power, by those who even presume to ‘enlist’ God on their side, offering religious justification for the killing of innocents, Pope Leo XIV has appealed to the overwhelming majority of people throughout the world who want peace, believe in peace, pray for peace, and build it day by day.

The words of the Pope, who has made peace the hallmark of his magisterium, are unequivocal both in identifying the ultimately diabolical root of war and in rejecting outright any revival of the claim that “God is with us”. No, God cannot be with those who massacre civilians. God is with those who suffer, with those who die beneath the rubble.

Some expressions used by Pope Leo XIV are striking: prayer is “bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,” because those who pray are aware of their own limits and neither kill nor threaten. The exact opposite is true of those who make “themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol, to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee”.

It would be mistaken to consider this pressing invitation to prayer as an escape into spiritualism. This is demonstrated by another passage in the reflection of the Successor of Peter. After recalling the responsibility of each person to build peace, encounter, and friendship everywhere, Pope Leo XIV invites us to believe “in love, moderation and good politics.” A politics that does not consider words like dialogue and negotiations inappropriate, but instead finally seeks a ceasefire and then, lasting peace agreements.

Team Maverick.