President Trump Refuses To Apologize, Doubles Down On His Message To Pope Leo XIV

The White House has ramped up its criticism of the first-ever American pope in recent days, largely in response to what appeared to be Pope Leo XIV’s thinly veiled references to President Trump’s military action in Iran.

After receiving some backlash from a mainstream media that had previously shown precious little interest in denouncing blasphemy against Judeo-Christian faiths, Trump remained defiant.

Not only did he refuse to apologize, the Daily Caller reported, but he offered another jab directed at the Vatican:

At an Oval Office presser on Monday, Trump doubled down on his criticisms after he was asked by a reporter whether he owes the Pope an apology.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I don’t, because Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,” Trump told reporters. “You have hundreds of millions of people dead and it’s not going to happen, so I can’t. I think he’s very weak on crime and other things, so I’m not. I mean, he went public.”

“I’m just responding to Pope Leo,” Trump continued. “And, you know, his brother is a big MAGA person and he’s a great guy, Louis. And I said, I like Louis better than I like the Pope. Now you have to have law and order in our country and that’s what we have now. We have the lowest crime numbers we’ve had in a long time, despite the fact that many criminals were allowed into our country, but we’ve gotten a lot of them out. We’ve done a great job on crime.”

Trump’s previous remarks about the head of the Catholic Church have attracted significant attention on social media:

🚨 REPORTER: Bishop Robert Barron now says you owe Pope Leo an APOLOGY. Will you apologize?

PRESIDENT TRUMP: "No, I won't. Because Pope Leo said things that are WRONG. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran. You cannot have a nuclear Iran!" pic.twitter.com/32BtRMdX30

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 13, 2026

"I'm not a fan of Pope Leo."

President Trump rips into Pope Leo for being “very liberal" and accusing him of catering to the left after speaking out against the war in Iran.

But the pope isn't backing down, telling reporters his push for peace comes from the Gospel, not… pic.twitter.com/6ZSIp6Guj9

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 13, 2026

Good! The pope owes America an apology!

— Emily C. (@EmilyinChas) April 13, 2026

AP News reported on the latest feud with some historical context, chronicling the pope’s pre-Vatican penchant for criticizing all things MAGA:

WHAT HE SAID: When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the future pope was a bishop in Peru. He did not shy away from assigning clear blame to Moscow. On a Peruvian show “Weekly Expression,” Prevost described an “imperialist invasion in which Russia wants to conquer territory for reasons of power given Ukraine’s strategic location.”

The clip resurfaced in Italian media soon after he was elected pope on May 8, 2025.

In early 2025, then-Cardinal Prevost used social media to share a news analyses that criticized U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a converted Catholic, for justifying harsh immigration policy by arguing that Christianity sets a pecking order of caring for others, putting one’s family, immediate community and fellow citizens above foreigners.

ADVERTISEMENT

“JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” read the headline that the future pope shared.

CONTEXT AND WHY IT MATTERS: Catholic bishops comment often in their local media, and some achieve considerable influence. But they vary widely in how detailed they are about public policy and politics. Many stick to broad statements about church doctrine and values and avoid taking stands at odds with individual politicians. With his comments in Peru and then his rare retweet as a cardinal in Rome, Prevost showed he kept abreast of world affairs and was willing to be quite direct in his critiques.

Here’s some additional coverage of the ongoing saga: