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U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his belief that Pope Leo XIV lacks an understanding of the nuclear threat posed by Iran.
In a brief phone conversation with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday, Trump remarked, “He doesn’t grasp the situation and should refrain from discussing war, as he is unaware of the actual developments.”
Trump further criticized Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for labeling his remarks about the Pope as “unacceptable.”
“The real issue is with her,” Trump stated, “because she seems unconcerned about Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could lead to catastrophic consequences for Italy in a matter of minutes.”
Previously, Trump had praised Meloni, making his current disappointment with the prime minister all the more surprising to him.
“I thought she was brave, but I was wrong,” he said, going on to lament Italy’s lack of support in the US war with Iran and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Meloni defended her disagreements with the Trump administration on Tuesday.
“When you’re friends and have allies, especially if they’re strategic, you also have to have the courage to say when you disagree, which is what I do every day, because I believe this is beneficial for Europe, the United States, and the West in general,” she said.
And Italy’s foreign minister defended Meloni’s defense of the pope.
“Until today, President Trump considered Giorgia Meloni a courageous person. He was not mistaken because she is a woman who never shies away from saying what she thinks. And on Pope Leo XIV, she said exactly what all of us Italian citizens think,” Antonio Tajani wrote on X.