WASHINGTON — President Trump told The Post he has two questions for Pope Leo XIV about his opposition to the Iran war — after the pontiff continued to voice opposition.
“Why does the pope think it is fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon and to kill 42,000 unarmed protesters?” Trump said in an early morning interview.
The president expressed irritation at criticism coming from the American-born pope, stressing his case for the war as a two-week cease-fire nears its end on Wednesday.
“This is one of the most important wars. I said to the pope you can’t allow them to have a nuclear weapon because they will use it and millions of people will be dead, including Italians and Catholics around the world,” Trump said.
“And you can’t allow a country to kill 42,000 unarmed protesters, many of which were young people who they hanged from a crane in a public square.”
The Vatican press office did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Trump argues that he’s serving the long-term cause of peace by crippling Iran’s military power and nuclear enrichment, and he has bristled for weeks at the Roman Catholic leader’s rebukes.
Leo has called for an end to the “madness of war” and denounced “arrogant” leaders who wage armed conflict.
God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them,” the pope said in a Palm Sunday mass on March 29.
Trump, in turn, has called the pope naive and “terrible for foreign policy.”
The pope opposed the conflict as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth invoked Christianity in support of the US military.
Hegseth on March 25 delivered a prayer at the Pentagon calling upon the power of Jesus Christ in support of Operation Epic Fury.
Hegseth prayed that troops deliver “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” adding: “We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.”
As the clash with the pope escalated, Trump on April 12 posted to Truth Social an image that seemed to depict the commander-in-chief as Jesus performing a miracle.
The president later deleted the image, saying he thought it portrayed him as a doctor.
