Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described as “unacceptable” the message posted by US President Donald Trump on his social network after Pope Leo XIV criticised the war in the Middle East.
“I thought the point of my statement this morning was clear but I’ll reiterate it even more clearly,” she said yesterday.
“I find President Trump’s words towards the Holy Father unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church and it is right and normal that he calls for peace and condemns all forms of war.”
Trump had published a long message on his Truth Social network accusing Pope Leo XIV of, among other things, supporting Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, opposing the US military operation in Venezuela in January and meeting with sympathisers of former Democratic president Barack Obama.
The President wrote: “And I don’t want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise.”
He then posted picture of himself depicted as a Christ-like figure, healing a sick person, with fighter jets and a US flag in the background. After a storm of criticism, the post was deleted.
Pope Leo XIV said yesterday, aboard the plane taking him from Rome to Algiers, that he was “not afraid” of the US administration and that he had a “moral duty” to speak out in favour of peace.
In one of his criticisms of conflicts around the world, particularly in the Middle East, Pope Leo XIV declared on April 11 that faith was necessary “to face together this dramatic moment in history”.
“Enough of the idolatry of the self and money! Enough of shows of force! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,” the US Pope said during a prayer vigil for peace at St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, without naming any political leader or country.
