Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni has criticized President Donald Trump’s rant against Pope Leo XIV as “unacceptable.”
“I find President Trump’s words toward the Holy Father unacceptable,” said Meloni, the head of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, said on Monday in a statement.
“The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal that he calls for peace and condemns every form of war.”
On Sunday night, Trump put the first American pope on blast, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” after the pontiff had voiced concerns over the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants, as well as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote, despite the pope not previously advocating for Tehran to have such a weapon.
“And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes 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,” he later added.
Trump later posted a since-deleted AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing the sick. The president told reporters Monday that he thought the image depicted him as a doctor. He has since deleted the post.
In response to the president, Leo said Monday that he is “not afraid” of speaking out on the Catholic Church’s teachings.
“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for,” the pope said while aboard the papal plane, according to The Associated Press.