Donald Trump’s comments about Pope Leo were some of the most shocking he has ever made – tourists visiting the Vatican this week say the US president is ‘absurd’
Tourists visiting the Vatican this week have slammed US president Donald Trump following his criticism of Pope Leo.
Trump called the Pope “weak” and captive to the “radical left” on social media this week, after Leo called Trump’s threats toward Iran “truly unacceptable.”
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” the president wrote on Truth Social, adding: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” Trump refused to apologise to Pope Leo on Monday.
The Pope is currently away from the Vatican on a 10-day trip to Africa, but tourists are still visiting the site. They have been giving their opinions on the increasingly deranged US president.
READ MORE: Donald Trump slams the UK over North Sea oil and demands ‘no more windmills’READ MORE: Donald Trump hits Meloni with Iran nuclear warning – ‘Blow Italy up in minutes’
“It’s just ridiculous, because if the Pope is not speaking about peace, and is not taking care about every people in the world, he’s not the Pope,” said Joerg Soler, who was visiting the Vatican from Switzerland.
“It’s completely inappropriate,” said Mariella Acciaioli, a French tourist. “Things are getting too much. We need to mobilise everyone, especially our leaders, to deal with this behavior that is going beyond every limit.”
American tourist Paul Sarauskas expressed disbelief at Trump’s unprecedented comments, calling it “absurd”. He said: “I think he needs to keep his nose out of religion. He’s telling the Pope what to do. He’s telling the Pope how to do his job.
“Where the Pope just wants to do good things, right? He wants to talk about peace, about helping other people, whereas the current administration is doing something completely opposite. They’re just tearing people apart. They’re talking about division and war and hate.”
Pope Leo himself has hit back at Trump, telling reporters that the Vatican’s appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel and that he doesn’t fear the Trump administration.
“To put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,” the Pope said aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria. “And I’m sorry to hear that, but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”
Italian journalist Massimo Franco said Trump clearly expected Leo, the first ever American pope to be “subservient”, to the United States.
“A pope must be a pope. He must respond to a wider community. And if he sees that Trump’s policy risks to give a distorted view of the United States, I think the Pope is helping the United States as well, not just the United States, to find the right path,” Franco said.
The Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a prominent Italian Jesuit theologian and undersecretary to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Culture and Education, said Trump’s fury “against a moral voice” shows that “the president is powerless”.
“He can’t bring the Pope to the same terrain where he has brought everyone else, where he can dominate with language,” Spadaro told Italian Radio 24. “In this sense, the moral force of the church is evident. It is not a counter-power but a space in which power is being judged by criteria that power itself cannot control.”
