Pope Leo XIV said it is not in his interest to debate President Donald Trump, pushing back at reporting about the escalating war of words between the two men.
The Chicago-born pontiff’s 11-day tour of Africa has at times been overshadowed by Trump, who has repeatedly hit out at Leo in the past week, seemingly incensed by his forceful advocacy for peace with Iran.
In a prayer meeting in Cameroon on Thursday, Leo said that the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” and blasted leaders who spend billions on wars.
But speaking aboard the papal plane on Saturday, Leo challenged any suggestion that the remark was a direct rebuke of Trump’s actions in Iran.
He told reporters that the words were prepared “weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself, and on the message of peace I am promoting.”
“It looked like I was trying to debate the president, which is not in my interest at all,” Leo said.
He reiterated his vow to “promote peace in our world,” but stressed his trip is primarily to “be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all of the Catholics throughout Africa.”
The leader said that a narrative “that has not been accurate in all of its aspects” has grown “because of the political situation created on the first day of the trip,” seemingly referring to messages from Trump last Sunday, in which he called the pope “WEAK on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.”
NBC News asked Pope Leo about Trump's comments
“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,” the president had told NBC News that day at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
On Monday, Leo told NBC News aboard the papal plane that he has “no fear of the Trump administration” and vowed to keep up his appeals for peace, which he said were rooted in the Gospel.
He had said: “We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
The dispute between the two men has since drawn in Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. Vance said Tuesday at a Turning Point USA event that Leo should “be careful” with his remarks, also raising a religious doctrine he called the “just war theory.”
“In the same way it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance had said.
