{"id":31642,"date":"2026-04-13T07:53:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:53:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31642"},"modified":"2026-04-13T07:53:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T05:53:54","slug":"trump-lashes-out-at-pope-leo-xiv-over-iran-war-stance","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/trump-lashes-out-at-pope-leo-xiv-over-iran-war-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump lashes out at Pope Leo XIV over Iran war stance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"elementToProof\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\">Speaking to reporters on Sunday evening, Trump said he strongly disagreed with the Pope\u2019s comments on the conflict, accusing him of being too lenient towards Tehran.<\/div>\n<div data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">\u201cWe don\u2019t like a pope that\u2019s going to say that it\u2019s OK to have a nuclear weapon,\u201d Trump said. \u201cHe\u2019s a man who doesn\u2019t think we should be toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon so they can blow up the world. I\u2019m not a fan of Pope Leo.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead the Roman Catholic Church, has emerged as one of the most prominent global critics of the US and Israel\u2019s war with Iran. Over the past month, he has repeatedly condemned the conduct of the conflict and warned of escalating global consequences.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Last week, the Pope denounced Trump\u2019s rhetoric towards Iran as \u201ctruly unacceptable\u201d, after Trump warned that \u201ca whole civilisation will die tonight\u201d unless Tehran complied with American demands, just hours before a two\u2011week ceasefire was agreed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">Earlier, during a Palm Sunday sermon, Pope Leo appeared to directly rebuke the Trump administration\u2019s use of religious language to justify the war. \u201cJesus is the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,\u201d he said. \u201cHe does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">The pontiff has also warned that the current conflict risks spiralling into what he called an \u201cunbridgeable chasm\u201d of violence, urging world leaders to recommit to diplomacy and international law.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">In his most recent remarks, Pope Leo stressed that attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law and said the war was unjust, escalating and failing to resolve the underlying crisis.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"elementToProof\">&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":31643,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-31642","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"United States (US) President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented public attack on Pope Leo XIV, criticising the pontiff\u2019s opposition to the war with Iran and describing him as \u201cterrible for foreign policy\u201d.","published_date":"","news_description":"United States (US) President Donald Trump has launched an unprecedented public attack on Pope Leo XIV, criticising the pontiff\u2019s opposition to the war with Iran and describing him as \u201cterrible for foreign policy\u201d.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31644,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31642\/revisions\/31644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}