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US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the war on Iran \u2014 setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader at home.<\/p>\n
Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticised the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown<\/a>, the intervention in Venezuela<\/a> and the war<\/a> on Iran. The president risks alienating the religious right in November\u2019s crucial US midterm elections.<\/p>\n So far, the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world\u2019s 1.4 billion Catholics shows no signs of abating.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to apologise for. He\u2019s wrong,\u201d the 79-year-old Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.<\/p>\n In the post on Sunday, Trump called<\/a> the pontiff \u201cWEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy\u201d, suggesting that Leo was elected pope in May 2025 only because he was American and a possible bridge to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Trump then posted an AI-generated image seemingly depicting himself as a figure like Jesus Christ, which he later deleted. He insisted on Monday that he believed the image showed himself as a doctor<\/a>.<\/p>\n For his part, Pope Leo told reporters on the papal plane en route to Africa earlier on Monday that he has \u201cno fear<\/a>, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel\u201d.<\/p>\n \n <\/a>\n <\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Leo had earlier this month branded<\/a> Trump\u2019s threat to destroy a \u201cwhole civilisation\u201d in Iran as \u201ctruly unacceptable\u201d. He has also previously criticised Trump\u2019s mass deportation campaign as \u201cinhuman\u201d.<\/p>\n Three-times married billionaire Trump has long reached out to America\u2019s evangelical Christians with his conservative, nativist vision.<\/p>\n They backed him in his election wins in 2016 and 2024 despite a series of scandals and an ambiguous personal relationship with religion.<\/p>\n But Trump, who has previously hawked $60 Bibles branded with his name, appeared to have had something of an awakening during his second term.<\/p>\n At his inauguration last year, he said he had been \u201csaved by God\u201d after a 2024 assassination attempt<\/a> on the campaign trail and has taken a more explicitly religious tone.<\/p>\n Yet over the recent Easter period, which is sacred to Christians, Trump has made a series of eye-opening posts when it comes to religion.<\/p>\n On the morning of Easter Sunday, as Christians were celebrating around the world, Trump posted<\/a> a profanity-laced warning to the \u201ccrazy bastards\u201d of Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or else \u2014 signing off: \u201cPraise be to Allah.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>\u2018Evil tirade\u2019<\/h2>\n