IN BRIEF
- Pope Leo has criticised US policies on immigration and the war in the Middle East.
- Trump said pope is "terrible for foreign policy" and "weak on crime" in a social media post.
US President Donald Trump has criticised Pope Leo as "terrible" in an unusual, direct attack on the pontiff, who responded by vowing to continue denouncing war and suffering.
The president's comments came after the pope had spoken out, with growing force, against the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration's hard-line immigration policies.
"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late on Monday AEST.
Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the US, responded on Monday by saying he would continue to denounce war, adding that the Christian message, rooted in the primacy of peace, was being "abused".
'Someone has to stand up'
"I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems," Leo said aboard a papal flight to Algiers, where he is embarking on a 10-day tour to four African countries.
"Too many people are suffering in the world today," he said. "Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there's a better way."
Catholics on social media lambasted Trump for attacking the leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church, who they believe is the successor of St Peter, one of Jesus' 12 apostles.
"There is no ambiguity about the situation now," Massimo Faggioli, an expert on the papacy, said.
He compared the comments to efforts by the leaders of Germany and Italy during World War Two to draw the late Pope Pius XII to support their causes.
"Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly," said Faggioli.
Archbishop Paul S Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, said he was disheartened by Trump's comments.
"Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls,” he said in a statement.
Trump says pope should 'get his act together'
Leo, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on 28 February.
The pope said this month's threat from Trump to destroy Iranian civilisation was "unacceptable."
On Saturday, the 70-year-old American pope publicly implored leaders to end the violence, saying: "Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!"
In a speech on Palm Sunday last month in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican, the pope said God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have their "hands full of blood", calling the conflict in Iran "atrocious".
Leo has also called on Trump to find an "off-ramp" to end the conflict and "decrease the amount of violence".
He has also called for "deep reflection" about the way migrants are being treated in the US under the Trump administration.
Last year the pope also questioned whether Trump's hard-line immigration policies were in line with the Catholic Church's pro-life teachings.
"Someone who says I am against abortion but I am in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life," the pontiff said in September.
In his post, Trump suggested that Leo was only elected to lead the Catholic Church last year "because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump."
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"Leo should get his act together as Pope," Trump said in his post, later telling reporters he was not a "big fan" of the pontiff.
"I'm not a big fan of pope Leo. He's a very liberal person, and he's a man that doesn't believe in stopping crime," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, accusing the pontiff of "toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon".
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