Pope Leo Dismisses Reports Claiming He Is Targeting Trump

(MENAFN) Pope Leo moved on Saturday to defuse a growing diplomatic row with US President Donald Trump, firmly denying that his pointed condemnation of ongoing Middle East warfare was a deliberate challenge to the American leader — while turning his criticism squarely on media outlets he accused of distorting his words.

Addressing journalists aboard a papal flight bound for Angola, the US-born pontiff argued that sensationalized coverage had manufactured a conflict where little existed.

"There's been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects… much of what has been written… has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said," the Pope said.

Leo clarified that his earlier address in Cameroon — in which he lambasted world leaders for pouring billions into warfare and denounced the globe as "ravaged by a handful of tyrants" — was never intended as a broadside against Trump personally.

"And yet, as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not my interest at all," he said.

The dispute has simmered for weeks, rooted in a series of policy clashes. Leo has previously taken aim at Trump's aggressive mass deportation agenda and his characterization of Europe as "decaying." The widening conflict in the Middle East has since sharpened those divisions further. The Pope urged all parties to "stop the spiral of violence," branding Trump's reported threat to obliterate Iranian civilization as "unacceptable."

Leo also appeared to deliver a veiled rebuke to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who called on Americans to pray "in the name of Jesus Christ" in support of military operations — with the Pope declaring that God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war."

Trump has not softened his tone toward the Vatican, having labeled the Pope "weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy," and declaring that he does not want "a pope who criticizes the President of the United States."

Despite the friction, US Vice President J.D. Vance — himself a prior critic of Leo — appeared to embrace the pontiff's clarifying remarks as a step toward de-escalation.

"I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this," Vance wrote on X on Sunday. "While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict – and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen – the reality is often much more complicated."

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