Trump Live Updates: Pope Leo Says He Has ‘No Fear’ After President’s Attack

Leo’s comments came after Mr. Trump’s lengthy attack on the pope on Sunday night, in which the president accused the pontiff of being “weak on crime” and “catering to the Radical Left.” Mr. Trump also said Leo, the first American pope, should “focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”

Tensions between the two leaders have risen in recent weeks. The pope has criticized President Trump’s attacks on Iran and appeared to distance himself from efforts by Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, to portray the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran as a Christian mission.

On Monday, Leo said he would continue to publicly oppose war, while downplaying the idea that he was engaged in a direct dispute with Mr. Trump.

“The things I say are not meant as attacks on anyone,” Leo told reporters.

He added: “I do not look at my role as being political, a politician. I don’t want to get into a debate with him. I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing.”

The pope answered questions during a two-hour flight from Rome to Algiers on Monday, speaking with journalists accompanying him on his tour through Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

He added: “I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems. Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.”

The illustration was posted without commentary, less than an hour after Mr. Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV in another post, calling him “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.” The pope, the first American-born pontiff to lead the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, has spoken out against the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, condemning the “absurd and inhuman violence” unleashed by the fighting.

Responding to Mr. Trump’s comments, the pope said Monday that he has “no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”

In the image posted on Sunday, the man in the bed is surrounded by figures looking up at Mr. Trump, including a person in a medical uniform with a stethoscope around their neck, a praying woman and a man in a camouflage uniform. The background of the image includes the Statue of Liberty, a building resembling the Lincoln Memorial, fighter jets, eagles, fireworks and a billowing American flag.

Mr. Trump has posted a number of apparently A.I.-generated images of himself on social media over the last year, sometimes drawing significant backlash. In May 2025, after the death of Pope Francis, Mr. Trump posted an image of himself as pontiff, drawing criticism, including from Catholics.

In February 2025, Mr. Trump posted an image of himself wearing a crown on a magazine cover resembling Time, but called Trump, as he likened himself to a king.

“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Mr. Trump wrote in a lengthy social media post on Sunday night. “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.”

When he sent the post, the president was fresh off a weekend of attending a mixed martial arts fight in Miami and spending time with supporters at his golf club after negotiations with Iran had failed. He criticized Leo as “weak on crime” — an insult he usually reserves for Democratic mayors — and “terrible for foreign policy.” He said that he much preferred the pope’s brother Louis because of his support for the MAGA movement — “He gets it!” Mr. Trump wrote. The president also accused the pope of “catering to the radical left” and then offered a piece of advice, to “focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”

The antagonistic post showed that there were really no boundaries when it comes to people Mr. Trump might target — the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics is apparently fair game. Shortly after sending his post on Sunday evening, Mr. Trump disembarked from Air Force One and answered questions from reporters. When asked why he sent the post, the president said that he did not think the pope was doing a good job and suggested that Leo “likes crime, I guess.” He accused the pope of supporting nuclear weapons and called him a “very liberal person.”

Mr. Trump’s angry counterpunch to the soft-spoken Leo, who was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, illustrated how differently two of the world’s most powerful Americans handle conflict. One pleads for resolution, while the other reflexively increases the temperature.

In his first year as pontiff, Leo has avoided overt criticism from a mercurial president and quietly dodged an early invitation from Mr. Trump to visit Washington. But in January, Leo delivered a speech voicing concern about the Trump administration’s capture of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.

His admonishments on the war in Iran have grown more pointed as that conflict has continued, and as Trump administration officials began invoking theology to justify a war that Mr. Trump ordered without the authorization of Congress, support from Americans or buy-in from many U.S. allies.

In March, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called on Americans to pray for victory in battle and the safety of their troops “in the name of Jesus Christ.” The pope soon after warned against invoking the name of Jesus for battle, saying that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

In a homily during a Mass before Easter last week, Leo said that the Christian mission had been “distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”

Then, on Easter Sunday, he renewed his call for peace. “On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars,” Leo told tens of thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

Last week, reports also circulated that a Trump administration official had met with Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the former papal ambassador to the United States, to complain about the pope’s criticism of administration policies. Both the administration and the Vatican publicly denied the reports. Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic and is releasing a memoir about his faith, was asked about the meeting. He initially did not seem to know who Cardinal Pierre was.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s threat to wipe out the Iranian civilization if Tehran did not agree to open the Strait of Hormuz, a key global oil route, prompted a rare direct rebuke from Leo. The pope called the threat “truly unacceptable” in remarks to reporters, and added that Mr. Trump’s threats to blow up bridges and power plants went “against international law.”

He called those threats a “sign of the hatred, the division, the destruction human beings are capable of, and we all want to work for peace.” (In an interview with a Fox News host on Sunday morning, the president defended his threat, saying he was “fine with it.”)

On Sunday evening, Mr. Trump attacked Leo after several influential American cardinals appeared on “60 Minutes” to discuss why they had followed the pope in speaking out against the global and domestic conflicts created by the Trump administration.

“It’s an abominable regime, and it should be removed,” Cardinal Robert McElroy said during the “60 Minutes” appearance, referring to the leadership in Iran. “But this is a war of choice that we went to, and I think it’s embedded in a wider moment in the United States that’s worrying, which is this: We’re seeing before us the possibility of war after war after war.”

Several prominent Catholics have come to the pope’s defense after the president’s attack.

Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement: “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”

James Joseph Martin Jr., an American Jesuit priest and writer, wrote on social media: “I doubt Pope Leo XIV will lose any sleep over this, before he begins his pilgrimage to Africa tomorrow. But the rest of us should. Because it is unhinged, uncharitable and unchristian. Is there no bottom to this moral squalor?”

Last May, just after Leo’s ascension, the pope’s other brother, John Prevost, told The New York Times in an interview that he did not think his brother would stay silent if he disagreed with Mr. Trump’s policies.

“I know he’s not happy with what’s going on with immigration,” he said. “I know that for a fact. How far he’ll go with it is only one’s guess, but he won’t just sit back. I don’t think he’ll be the silent one.”

Ephrat Livni and Elizabeth Dias contributed reporting.

Earlier in the weekend, marathon talks between Iranian and U.S. leaders in Pakistan ended without a breakthrough. Oil prices rose after the negotiations foundered.

Strategists in both parties said on Sunday that Mr. Trump’s latest comments posed a challenge for Republicans, who are working to defend their majorities in the House and Senate, as an unpopular war drives up the costs of energy and goods. Douglas Heye, a Republican strategist, said Mr. Trump’s rhetoric was adding to Republicans’ headaches and making it harder for them to blame inflation on President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s administration.

“It’s a very big obstacle,” Mr. Heye said of the rising price of gas and other goods. “It was a big obstacle — that just got a little taller.”

When gas prices rise, the popularity of the president typically falls. And Democrats have made fuel costs a central part of their argument against Republicans for the midterms.

Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement that if Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s “midterm pitch to Americans is higher gas prices by Election Day, Republicans are in big, big trouble.”

Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping corridor through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas traveled before the war. On Sunday, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States was $4.13, according to AAA, the motor club, up more than $1 over the last two months.

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The jolt to energy prices appears to be spilling across the economy: The overall inflation rate rose to 3.3 percent in March compared with the same time last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The White House responded to the report by describing rising prices as “short-term disruptions.”

Mr. Trump told Fox News that he had told his economic advisers: “I’m sorry, fellas, we’re in great shape. We have to go and take a little journey down to Iran, and we have to stop them from having a nuclear weapon.”

“They all said: We agree,” Mr. Trump added.

Alex Conant, a Republican strategist, said Mr. Trump was caught in a bind and appeared to be “trying to reset people’s expectations.”

But “if gas prices are still $4 or $5 in November, it’s going to be very challenging for incumbents” in the Republican Party, Mr. Conant said, adding that the president would be wise “to get out of the prediction business.”

The offices of Republicans running in some of the most competitive congressional districts in the country expressed hope on Sunday that gas prices would fall soon, despite the president’s latest comments.

Representative Tom Barrett, a Republican former Army officer who represents a swing district in Central Michigan, said in a statement that he wanted the military campaign in Iran to be “swift and measured, not prolonged.”

“I am hopeful that we can bring this to a close in the next few weeks,” he said. “Once there is stability in the region, oil prices and subsequently gas prices will come down, while Americans will be safer because we’ve neutralized one of our most determined enemies."

A spokeswoman for Representative Mike Lawler, a New York Republican who faces a challenging path to re-election, said the congressman was working to reduce energy prices. Once the conflict “comes to a close, oil prices will come down,” the spokeswoman, Caroline Hunt, said in a statement.

The fighting has been paused after the United States and Iran reached a fragile cease-fire last Tuesday. Mr. Trump said early Sunday that the U.S. Navy would begin a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. But later in the day, U.S. Central Command said American forces would start blockading maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports on Monday, apparently stepping back from the president’s pledge to blockade the entire strait.

Iran’s top negotiator and the speaker of its Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, responded to the blockade by warning U.S. consumers, “Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4-$5 gas.”

Democrats responded to the developments by deepening their criticism of the president’s handling of the war and the economy.

“Trump chose to start a war knowing it was going to raise gas prices on Americans already struggling to get by,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, chair of Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said in a statement. She added, “Come this November, voters will have an opportunity to set a very different direction for our country.”

Michael Crowley and Parin Behrooz contributed reporting.

“We have a long history of wonderful leaders serving the Presidio, and we look forward to welcoming and working with the new members,” Ms. Petrie said.

In February 2025, President Trump issued an executive order calling the Presidio Trust an “unnecessary governmental entity” that should be “dramatically” shrunk. That order also targeted three other agencies — the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation and the United States Institute of Peace — that the administration has already taken steps to dismantle.

The White House did not immediately respond to inquiries about the firings and its plans to appoint new board members.

The move was part of a push by the administration to reshape the federal bureaucracy that has also included firings of government workers and efforts to take control of nominally independent institutions. Those efforts have been slowed down by lawsuits.

Last year, a federal judge blocked the president’s takeover of the Inter-American Foundation, an independent agency created by Congress in 1969 to fund development projects in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Last month, a federal court blocked the administration’s attempt to dismantle the U.S. African Development Foundation, created in 1980 to provide grants to community groups and small enterprises that help marginalized groups in Africa. A lawsuit over the administration’s efforts to upend the U.S. Institute of Peace, established in 1984 to prevent deadly conflict abroad, is working its way through the courts.

The Presidio, a 1,500-acre former military base, includes hiking trails, museums, campgrounds, hotels, restaurants, housing and an 18-hole golf course. Some 9.5 million people visit the site annually, according to a 2025 Presidio report, making it one of the country’s most visited parks.

The trust is led by a board of directors, six of them appointed by the president. A seventh board member is chosen by the U.S. secretary of the interior, but that seat has been vacant for years.

The six board members who were fired are Mark W. Buell, Charles M. Collins, Lenore Eccles, Patsy Ishiyama, Bonnie LePard and Nicola Miner. The terms of three members were set to expire in May 2027, while those of the other three expired in May last year.

Mr. Buell said he received a “curt email” from the White House Office of Personnel Management on Wednesday indicating he was terminated effective immediately. He said he had been expecting his termination months earlier and was hopeful the president would appoint new members soon.

He called the trust “the very best example” of how a military base could be converted to result in “a huge economic and cultural success.”

The Presidio employs a staff of ecologists, building stewards, utility workers, tech professionals and others. The National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, a nonprofit group, also help to oversee the park.

The Presidio Trust was created through a 1996 law that charged the trust with rehabilitating and leasing the Army buildings that had been shuttered by the Department of Defense after the end of the Cold War.

Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House, played a central role in the creation of the trust, and the park is in her district. She told The San Francisco Chronicle, which first reported the terminations, that she was “disappointed” with the firings and said that the Presidio would “continue to be protected by the strength of the legislation which created it.”

The trust has not received a congressional appropriation since 2013 and is funded through rent from its businesses and residents.

In a statement on social media, State Senator Scott Wiener, a Democrat who represents San Francisco, described the Presidio as a “success story” and called Mr. Trump “the Destroyer President.”

“He tears down institutions that make the world better,” the statement read, listing off Medicaid, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, United States Agency for International Development and the National Institutes of Health, “and replaces them with nothing since he’s incapable of building.”