Italian PM Meloni Condemns Trump’s Attacks on Pope Leo as “Unacceptable”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has publicly rebuked President Donald Trump over his outburst against Pope Leo XIV, describing his remarks as crossing a line.

“I find President Trump’s words toward the Holy Father unacceptable,” Meloni, who leads the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, said in a statement on Monday.

“The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal that he calls for peace and condemns every form of war,” she added.

Trump had taken aim at the first-ever American pope on Sunday night, labelling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

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The attack came after the pontiff expressed concern over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the ongoing U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote, even though the pope had made no such suggestion regarding Tehran acquiring nuclear capabilities.

The president went further, writing: “And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”

Trump also briefly shared an AI-generated image portraying himself as Jesus Christ tending to the sick — a post he later deleted.

When questioned by reporters on Monday, the president claimed he believed the image showed him as a doctor.

Pope Leo, for his part, pushed back firmly.

Speaking to journalists aboard the papal plane, he made clear he would not be silenced.

“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for,” the pope said, according to The Associated Press.