Pope

Pontiff responds after US president accuses him of ‘endangering a lot of Catholics’ with stance on Iran warMiddle East crisis – live updatesPope Leo has said he has never supported nuclear weapons and that those who criticise him need to speak the truth, in response Donald Trump’s latest tirade accusing him of “endangering a lot of Catholics” with his stance on the Iran war.Speaking to journalists on Tuesday night after leaving the papal retreat in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, the first US-born pontiff said: “The mission of the church is to preach the gospel, to preach peace.” Continue reading...

US president directs fresh criticism at pontiff days before secretary of state Marco Rubio’s visit to VaticanMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.The remarks come two days before Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran. Continue reading...

• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to Rome this week for high-level meetings with Vatican officials following public tensions between President Donald Trump and Pope Leone. • The friction arose from Trump's attacks on the Pope's criticism of U.S. strikes in Iran and Lebanon plus hardline migration policies, risking a broader U.S.-Holy See fracture. • Agenda covers conflicts in Iran and Lebanon where Pope Leone called for civilian protection, U.S. migration restrictions, and concerns over Cuba and Latin America policies.

US secretary of state’s two-day visit reportedly intended to thaw Washington’s frosty relations with Vatican and ItalyThe US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will meet Pope Leo on Thursday, weeks after Donald Trump’s unprecedented broadside against the pontiff.Rubio will meet the first US-born pope privately in the Vatican’s apostolic palace at 11.30am (10.30 GMT), the Holy See’s press office confirmed on Monday after media reports on Sunday. Continue reading...

• Pope Francis appointed a former undocumented immigrant as a bishop in the United States, marking a symbolic statement on immigration policy. • The appointment reflects the Vatican's stance on immigrant rights and social justice within the American Catholic Church. • The move comes amid ongoing debate over immigration policy in the Trump administration.

Leo, who has criticized Trump’s hardline immigration policy, selected Evelio Menjivar-Ayala as state’s new bishopSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxPope Leo XIV has appointed a man who had once entered the United States as an undocumented immigrant, hidden in the trunk of a car, as the new bishop of West Virginia.The pope approved the resignation of Bishop Mark E Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, and selected Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, 55, of Washington to take his place, reported OSV News. Continue reading...

Sarah Mullally hails Leo for addressing the ‘many injustices in our world’ after private meeting with pope in RomeThe archbishop of Canterbury praised Pope Leo on Monday for speaking “powerfully about the many injustices” in the world, in an apparent reference to the pontiff becoming more outspoken in recent weeks, particularly in his criticism of the US-Israeli war on Iran.Sarah Mullally, who in March became the first woman to lead the Anglican church, arrived in Rome on Saturday for a visit aimed at reinforcing relations with the Vatican. Mullally had a private meeting with Leo, the first US-born leader of the Catholic church, at the Apostolic Palace, the pope’s official residence. Continue reading...

Aldeas, The Final Dream of Pope Francis is being screened to commemorate the first anniversary of Francis’s deathMartin Scorsese’s documentary about Pope Francis is to have its world premiere in the Vatican today as one of a set of events commemorating the first anniversary of Francis’s death.The screening of the film, titled Aldeas, The Final Dream of Pope Francis, is being staged by Scholas Occurrentes, an international organisation aiming to “to encourage social integration ‎and the culture of encounter through sports, arts and technology”, which was set up in Argentina by Francis in 2001 while he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and made into a foundation when he became pope in 2013. Continue reading...

Catholics around Atlanta share mixed feelings on faith and politics as Trump engages in rhetorical war with popeAlex Sullivan tended to his five children on the lawn after a traditional Latin mass at the Catholic Church of Saint Monica in Duluth, Georgia, and contemplated his faith in the light of God and the shadow of Donald Trump.Sullivan, a self-described conservative who once staffed a libertarian state representative at the Georgia capitol, described his faith as almost medieval. Continue reading...

Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump, says president’s feud with the pope is a ‘distraction’A Republican lawmaker has condemned what he refers to as Donald Trump’s “holy war” against Pope Leo XIV.Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, a long supporter of Trump and the ultraconservative Maga movement, condemned the president’s attacks on the pope during a Fox News interview on Saturday. Continue reading...

Trump appears to have crossed a line with his Christian supporters. Will it come back to bite him in the midterms?Donald Trump’s depiction of himself as Jesus Christ and recent spat with Pope Leo XIV could come back to bite him and the Republican party in the midterm elections, according to experts, with some newly aggrieved Christian groups set to play an outsized role in key races across the US.The president’s Trump-as-the-Messiah Truth Social post sparked immediate criticism among some Christians, including some on the right. Trump, 79, said he thought the AI image of him administering an ethereal light to a stricken man’s head as translucent figures descended from the heavens represented him as a doctor. Continue reading...

Manhattan church led by Norman Vincent Peale was known for opposing presidency of JFK – and Catholics in generalDonald Trump’s attacks this week on Pope Leo, for his criticism of the US attack on Iran and the US president’s decision to post an image of himself as Jesus Christ on social media, make a good deal more sense considering Trump attended services as a young man at the Protestant Marble Collegiate church in Manhattan, which was led at the time by an anti-Catholic pastor.That church’s pastor in Trump’s youth, Norman Vincent Peale, who would later officiate at Trump’s first wedding, is best-known today as the author of the Christian self-help book The Power of Positive Thinking, but when Trump was 14, Peale made national headlines as the leader of a group of Protestant churchmen who loudly objected to the presidential candidacy of John F Kennedy, on the grounds that he was a Catholic. Continue reading...

Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo XIV polarizing the diverse community as faith and politics come to a headMaryellen Lewicki meets once a week for Bible study with a group of Catholic women in Decatur, Georgia, in a space they try to keep clear of politics. But Donald Trump’s name arises nonetheless.“We have one person that we pray for during the course of the week,” she said. “What my friend said is that she prays for the president every day, that God will remove that hard heart of his and replace it with a softer one that has love.” Continue reading...

Trump administration has riled head of Catholic church over use of theology to justify conflict in IranThe contrast in experience between the two men disagreeing over war and theology was striking.On the one side was Pope Leo XIV, the first North American to head the Catholic church and the first cleric from the Augustinian order, who this week visited the modern Algerian city where Saint Augustine once lived. For Leo, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Augustine’s ideas, it was the culmination of a lifelong intellectual interest. Continue reading...

Sarah Mullally urges Anglicans to join Leo’s ‘courageous’ call and says human cost of war is incalculableThe archbishop of Canterbury has said she is standing in solidarity with Pope Leo XIV’s calls for peace amid his public feud with Donald Trump.Days after the US president objected to comments from the head of the Catholic church suggesting a “delusion of omnipotence” was fuelling the US-Israeli war in Iran, Sarah Mullally urged Anglicans to join Leo’s “courageous” call. Continue reading...

Pontiff’s comments are another sharp escalation in feud with Trump’s White House over the US-Israeli war on IranSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxPope Leo XIV has said that the world is being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” who spend billions on war, in comments that will be seen as another sharp escalation in his almost week-long feud with the White House over the US-Israeli war on Iran.The first American-born pontiff did not mention Donald Trump by name, but used his speech in Cameroon on Thursday to denounce world leaders that invoke religion to justify violence against other nations. Continue reading...

Leo doubles down on his message of peace as Trump and JD Vance continue to squabble with and insult the VaticanThe ongoing squabble between the Trump administration and the Vatican over the war in Iran took another twist on Wednesday when Pope Leo shared a message of peace and healing after the latest angry broadside from the White House.On Tuesday, JD Vance capped several days of insults by insinuating the pontiff was not being truthful in matters of theology, and did not understand the concept of war. Continue reading...

• President Trump has escalated his feud with Pope Leo, doubling down on criticism in an exclusive interview with CBS News on April 13, 2026. • The confrontation reflects growing tension between Trump and religious leadership, with reports indicating Trump is losing some support from religious Americans. • The conflict highlights the broader divide between Trump's political stance and traditional religious institutions' positions on various policy matters.

Vice-president effectively tells Leo to stay in his lane after the pope criticized the White House over the Iran warJD Vance has weighed into Donald Trump’s feud with Pope Leo, effectively telling the pontiff to stay in his lane after the head of the Catholic church criticized the White House over the Iran war.“It would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy,” the vice-president said in an interview on Fox News on Monday night. Continue reading...

Pontiff makes first papal visit to country as he starts 11-day tour that will also include stops in Cameroon and AngolaPope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on Monday for the first papal visit to the country, calling for peace on the opening stop of a tour of Africa that signals the continent’s growing importance to the Catholic church.The 11-day trip, which will include stops in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, is the longest by Pope Leo since being elected to the papacy in May last year. Continue reading...

In unprecedented attack on the leader of the Catholic church, president says the US-born pope is ‘not doing a very good job’ and is ‘a very liberal person’President Donald Trump delivered an extraordinary broadside against Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, saying he didn’t think the US-born leader of the Catholic church is “doing a very good job” and that “he’s a very liberal person,” while also suggesting the pontiff should “stop catering to the Radical Left.”Flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump used a lengthy social media post to sharply criticise Leo, then kept it up in comments on the tarmac to reporters. Continue reading...

Social media post names no names but criticizes attempts to use religion to glorify US war in Middle EastPope Leo XIV on Friday offered a new criticism of war, in a social media post that named no names but appeared to hint at the Trump administration leadership harnessing Christian nationalism to glorify the US and Israel’s war against Iran.“God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” Leo wrote on his official X account. “Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.” Continue reading...

Pontiff’s unusually pointed comments come after Pete Hegseth’s prayer for violence against enemies ‘who deserve no mercy’Pope Leo has said God ignores the prayers of leaders who wage war and have “hands full of blood” in an apparent rebuke to the Trump administration.The pontiff made the comments on Sunday as thousands of US troops arrived in the Middle East and days after the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, prayed for violence against enemies who deserved “no mercy”. Continue reading...

Decision to choose small, wealthy – but very Catholic – state for first European trip has baffled some Vatican observersPope Leo will travel to Monaco, the semi-enclave famous for casinos and superyachts, on Saturday on his first European trip since being elected pontiff, causing bemusement among some Vatican observers, not least because it comes 488 years after the last papal visit.Leo will travel from the Vatican by helicopter for the one-day trip, and will be greeted at Monaco’s heliport by Prince Albert and his wife, Princess Charlene, before being taken to the palace, which has been the residence of the Grimaldi dynasty since the 13th century. It is the first time a pontiff has visited Monaco since Pope Paul III in 1538. Continue reading...

Pontiff tells Italian airline staff aerial bombings should be banned, in latest condemnation of warMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesPope Leo has said aeroplanes should be “carriers of peace” and that aerial bombardments should be banned, in his latest condemnation of war amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.The Catholic church’s first American pontiff made the comments during a meeting on Monday with staff from the Italian national airline ITA Airways. Continue reading...