Pope Leo Seeks To Ease Tension With Trump, Saying ‘Tyrant’ Remark Was Written Weeks Ago

Pope Leo XIV is moving to cool down a simmering war of words with President Trump, telling reporters accompanying him on his travels in Africa that a remark about “tyrants” who “manipulate religion” was written weeks ago and was not a retort to recent criticism from the American president.“There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when, on the first day of the trip, the president of the United States made some comments about myself,” the Associated Press quoted the pontiff as saying.“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” he said.The extraordinary altercation between the leaders of the world’s most powerful country and its largest Christian denomination took off last week when the pope described a threat by Mr. Trump to destroy Iranian civilization as “truly unacceptable.”Mr. Trump lashed back at the pope days later on his TruthSocial account, describing the pontiff as “weak on crime” and accusing him of catering to the “radical left.”Given that exchange, Pope Leo was widely thought to have been referring to Mr. Trump and his administration’s war on Iran when in Cameroon, on the fourth day of his trip, he lamented that the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” he said to a peace gathering in Cameroon, the site of a long-running separatist conflict.But, the pope insisted Saturday, those remarks were prepared in advance of the Cameroon visit two weeks ago, before the squabble with Mr. Trump began. “And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all,” he said.“Looking ahead, however,” he added, “I will continue preaching the Gospel.”The dispute has been awkward for both parties, threatening to drag the Catholic Church into an American political dispute while forcing American Catholics, who tend to lean Republican, to take sides in a dispute between their president and the leader of their faith.Many have sided with Pope Leo, with the conservative-leaning Bishop Robert Barron calling Mr. Trump’s remarks “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful,” and the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Paul Coakley, saying the pope is “not a rival” or a politician, but the “Vicar of Christ.”

Pope Leo Seeks To Ease Tension With Trump, Saying ‘Tyrant’ Remark Was Written Weeks Ago

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