President Donald Trump has escalated his public feud with Pope Leo XIV, accusing the first US-born pontiff of endangering Catholics with his Iran stance and falsely claiming the Pope supports nuclear weapons for Iran. The dispute has driven U.S.-Vatican relations to what officials describe as an unprecedented low, prompting Secretary of State Marco Rubio to schedule a Thursday meeting with Pope Leo at the Vatican after seeking the audience for weeks. Trump has repeatedly attacked Pope Leo since the US-Israel war on Iran began, calling him weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy, and even suggesting the Pope was only elected because Trump was in the White House. The conflict has also strained U.S.-Italy relations, with Trump berating Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in April after she defended the Pope and threatening to withdraw U.S. troops over Italy's Iran policy. Pope Leo, marking his first year as pontiff on Friday, broke his silence Tuesday night to deny ever supporting nuclear weapons, a position consistent with decades of Catholic Church doctrine.
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