President Trump had some harsh words for Pope Leo XIV, who has been a leading critic of Operation Epic Fury. As a Catholic, I am disappointed in what I see as a double standard. Catholic leaders, including Pope Leo, have largely turned a blind eye towards Iran's abhorrent violence — not just its recent slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent citizens, but its decades-long work as the world's largest sponsor of state terror.
In a long post on Truth Social, the President laid into Pope Leo over his stance on the war.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 13, 2026
The post reads:
Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!
These are harsh words, of course, but the nut of Trump's argument is sound and correct. Where is the condemnation of Iran's five decades of terror or its slaughter of citizens? Where is the criticism of other bad actors in the world, who allow crime to flourish, which harms innocent lives? It seems that condemnation is saved only for Western nations, or Israel, when we finally fight back.
And meeting with prominent Democratic advisor David Axelrod was a choice. He's not Catholic, and he has no official government position, so what was he doing at the Vatican, meeting with the Pope?
My favorite part of all of this is the sudden faux concern from Democrats about President Trump's attack on Catholicism.
As a Catholic, I find it abhorrent that the President of the United States would publicly attack the Successor of St. Peter. Donald Trump is flailing. His war in Iran has led to the death and injury of American servicemembers and the death of Iranian children. He will attack… pic.twitter.com/fl5d1G2QVP
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) April 13, 2026
You'll be not shocked to learn that neither Kelly nor Newsom has said a word about the Little Sisters of the Poor or the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, two groups of Catholic nuns oppressed by his fellow Democrats' pro-abortion, pro-trans policies. The Little Sisters have been dragged through the courts for more than a decade after the Obama administration, then blue states, tried to force them to provide birth control and abortion coverage in ther employer-sponsored health programs. They had to file yet another appeal in court in December, this time because New Jersey and Pennsylvania continue infringing on their First Amendment Rights. The Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne are fighting the New York government because the state is threatening to fine them if they don't implement trans-friendly policies at their hospice for the poor, including using pronouns and changing bathroom and housing policies.
No Democrat complained when Washington state tried to force Catholic priests to break the seal of the confessional, wherein the so-called Catholic governor signed a bill that specifically targeted priests and ordered them to report confessed crimes to authorities. And no Democrats criticized Joe Biden when his DOJ labeled traditional Catholics as domestic terrorists.
All of those things are actual attacks on Catholicism and religious freedom, but the Democrats are fine with it.
The Pope recently said that there is no such thing as a good war, which will come as a surprise to historians. Both the Civil War, which freed the slaves, and World War II, which put an end to the scourge of Naziism, were just wars. Throughout history, including Catholic history, we have honored and elevated war fighters to sainthood.
This includes St. Joan of Arc, the French teenage peasant who led and inspired troops in the Hundred Years' War, including at the Siege of Orleans in 1429, which was seen as a turning point in France's favor. Saint Louis IX led the Seventh and Eighth Crusades. Saint George was a Roman soldier and a symbol of Christian military courage during the Crusades.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was a driving force behind the Second Crusade. While he never took up arms, he mobilized thousands across Europe to do so.
Saint Catherine of Siena was also involved in wars in Italy.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola was a Spanish soldier who later converted to Catholicism and founded the Jesuits. We'll forgive him for that one, because he never could have predicted what that order would become.
Are all these people now no good simply because they were involved with wars? It seems the contemporary answer is yes.
Catholic teaching on "just war" has not changed. The war must have a just cause, be declared by a legitimate authority, for the right intentions and as a last resort with a probability of success. The good from the war must also outweigh the damage.
Given Iran's history of wounding and killing innocents, including hundreds of American service members and its own civilians, the case can be made for a just war.
The suggestion in Catholic circles for years now has been an embrace of radical pacifism, which is just as disdainful of innocent life as unjust war. In fact, I would argue that pacifism is worse because it is also selfish and self-centered, putting one's ideology ahead of innocent life in the face of unjust aggressors. It says life isn't worth defending, and that there's nothing in this world — including the Catholic Church — that's worth fighting for
But I somehow doubt that if hordes of Islamists were to invade Vatican City, the Swiss Guard would just stand idly by and let them take over. After all, Vatican City has some of the world's strictest immigration laws, and it doesn't stop them from criticizing American enforcement of ours.
It's the hypocrisy that's the problem. President Trump is rightly irritated by the double standard, and so am I.
