Donald Trump accuses Pope Leo XIV of 'endangering' Catholics days before Secretary Rubio's Vatican visit

President Donald Trump re-ignited the feud between him and the Vatican on Tuesday, as he claimed that Pope Leo XIV was endangering the lives of Catholics. In an interview on the Salem News channel, the President also claimed that the Pope was supportive of Iran having nuclear weapons. His comments come days before Secretary of State Marco Rubio's meeting with the Pope at the Vatican.

"The Pope would rather talk about the fact that it's okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don't think that's very good," President Trump said. "I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people." The Pope has, however, never called for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Instead, over the last two months, the Pope has stressed the message of peace, asking responsible parties to avoid conflicts. 

Secretary of State Rubio will visit the Vatican on May 7 to discuss U.S. policy. "Nations have disagreements, and I think one of the ways that you work through those is … through fraternity and authentic dialogue," Brian Burch, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, said about the scheduled meeting, The Guardian reported.

Burch said that the goal was "to have a frank conversation about U.S. policy, to engage in dialogue." Earlier this year, President Trump had accused the Pope of being weak on matters of crime and called the pontiff "terrible for foreign policy." Pope Leo, on the other hand, said that he had no fear of the Trump administration but refrained from engaging in a debate with Trump.

When asked about President Trump's more recent remarks, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, admitted not knowing how Pope Leo XIV would respond. "Even in the face of these new attacks, I do not know whether the Pope will have the occasion to respond," he said as per Vatican News. He claimed that the Pope had already responded to such comments beforehand, which he believed was "a very, very Christian response, saying that he is doing what his role requires, which is to preach peace."

Meanwhile, after meeting with the Vatican's secretary of state, Pietro Parolin, the U.S. Secretary of State is scheduled to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Friday. Relations between Rome and Washington have also soured as Meloni refused to help Trump's war in Iran, criticized his stance on the Pope, and, more recently, the decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Italy.