Donald Trump accuses Pope Leo of endangering Catholics with Iran war rhetoric
By: Sarah Davis (The Hill)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Trump reignited his attacks on Pope Leo XIV on Monday, accusing the pontiff of condoning Iran's development of nuclear weaponry.
"I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people," Trump said in a recent interview with Hugh Hewitt. "But I guess if it's up to the pope, he thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."
The American-born pope has broadly urged an end to the hostilities and a return to the negotiation table to reach a peace deal. While Leo has not directly criticized the president, he has extended veiled criticism on the administration in his opposition to the war.
Trump lashed out in response to the pope's comments about the war, attacking him as "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy" in a Truth Social post last month.
The pope responded, telling reporters he had "no fear" of the White House.
The president's explicit attacks on the head of the Catholic Church and his decision to post an AI-doctored image that appeared to depict him as Jesus Christ have drawn pushback from some within his own political base. Trump later removed the image, saying he believed it depicted him as a doctor.
Vice President Vance, a Catholic, also joined in on criticizing the pontiff's commentary on the conflict.
"I don't think that it's particularly newsworthy, but I certainly think that in some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what's going on in the Catholic Church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy," he told Fox News last month.
Another Catholic member of the Trump administration, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is set to travel to Vatican City on Thursday for a "frank conversation" with the pope about disagreements between the U.S. and the Vatican over the war in Iran.
"Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is … through fraternity and authentic dialogue," Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See told reporters. "I think the secretary is coming here in that spirit, to have a frank conversation about U.S. policy, to engage in dialogue."
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Catholic Church Donald Trump Hugh Hewitt JD Vance Marco Rubio Pope Leo XIV state department Trump administration Trump-Pope Leo XIV feud Vatican City
Tags
Who is online
117 visitors
Trump just cant keep his mouth shut for five minutes can he ?
But his loyalists won't even bat an eye. I think we can update Trumps quote now...
Like every authoritarian demagogue, Trump needs an enemy, or enemies, to attack. It is a standard part of the authoritarian playbook. In this instance, Trump is just highlighting his own stupidity. Undoubtedly, Trump's depraved and benighted cultists will rush to praise and defend him. Watch for it on here.
This kind of nonsense is actually not unique to Trump. The far right has been doing this for generations. They push the most extreme option to address a problem and if you say something like, “maybe we should try something less extreme and more thoughtful or nuanced,” their only retort is “I guess you’re ok with [insert worst case scenario].
So, if you don’t support war with Iran, you want them to have a nuclear weapon. If you don’t support a certain kind of immigration enforcement, you want open borders. Unless you want the death penalty or life in prison for the most minor infraction, you support crime. I’m tired of this disingenuous bullying, and I wish more people would call it out when these ignorant thugs (like Trump and his minions) do it.
Remember if you support gay marriage you support bestiality? The slipperiest of slopes.
Yes, false equivalencies are FALSE...
Reductio ad absurdum or argumentum ad absurdum works alongside the slippery slope fallacy. These are dishonest ways to debate serious ideas for people who don't really have an argument.
Yeah I got the - if you disagree with how the Administration is handling Iran then you support a terrorist state - last week. Same dumb pretzel logic.
The Pope should excommunicate Vance and Rubio....in person!