Overview
- Trump escalated after an April 11 Vatican speech in which Pope Léon XIV denounced war and urged dialogue, labeling the pope weak on crime and disastrous on foreign policy and sharing an image of himself as Christ.
- France's foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attacks on the pontiff were not acceptable, echoing Italy's prime minister Giorgia Meloni who called the remarks inacceptable.
- Pope Léon XIV said he does not fear the Trump administration and will keep preaching the Gospel's message of peace, while noting recent media portrayals of the rift were not fully accurate.
- U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance praised the pope's latest comments and said the situation is more complex than media narratives suggest, in a bid to cool the dispute.
- Republican senator John Kennedy, a longtime supporter, criticized Trump's "holy war" against the pope on Fox News, a rebuke that lands as some American Catholic voters express anger over the attacks.