Pope Leo War Critiques Are ‘Spiritual' Vatican Says After Trump-Iran Feud
The Vatican defended Pope Leo XIV's Iran war criticisms as "spiritual" amid a monthslong feud between the Catholic Church leader and President Donald Trump-and just days after U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch equated his critiques to those of political leaders.
Leo's comments on the war have put him at odds with the Trump administration, which began striking Iran in late February. The critiques have drawn Trump’s ire, with the president criticizing Pope Leo numerous times in posts on Truth Social, including in an April 12 post attacking the pope as "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for foreign policy." Leo has sought to downplay the feud.
The impact of the friction has led to political and spiritual questions in the United States, which is home to tens of millions of Catholics, many of whom voted for Trump. The feud presents a major test of loyalty among Trump's Catholic supporters ahead of key midterm elections.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See for comment via email.
Vatican Says Pope Leo's War Critiques Are Not Political
Andrea Tornielli, the editorial director for the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication, addressed the pope's war critiques in an editorial published in Vatican News on Monday.
"Even when he speaks about war and peace, migration or how to remain human in the age of artificial intelligence, the Successor of Peter remains, above all, a spiritual leader," Tornielli wrote.
He spoke out against "misleading" "glorification or exaggeration" of the pope's role as a head of state, writing that it "comes at the expense of his one true mission as universal Shepherd" who "speaks to Catholics, Christians, believers, and all people of good will with the sole intent of proclaiming the Gospel."
The pope is "proclaiming the Gospel" when he speaks on issues, including those that may be political in nature such as calling "for an end to the mad arms race-even going beyond the concept of a ‘just war,'" he wrote.
Robert Orsi, professor of history at Northwestern University, told Newsweek the question of the pope's leadership is "complex," having to do with "Catholicism's place as a moral and religious force in the modern world."
"It's true that the pope is a religious leader; it is also true that the pope speaks as a religious leader to political and social issues," he said.
US Ambassador Says Pope ‘Co-Equal' With Political Leaders
The Vatican's editorial comes just days after Burch addressed some of the pope's critiques in an interview with The New York Times. In the interview, he said the pope's comments were as the political leader of the Vatican, rather than the leader of the church. Tornielli did not specifically name Burch in the editorial.
"When the pope acts as the sovereign leader of the Holy See, he is coequal with world leaders," Burch said.
He also said the pope cannot judge whether the Iran war is just or unjust because he only has access to "a set of limited facts," the Times reported.
Burch plays a critical role amid the apparent rift between Trump and the Vatican and could play a key role in rebuilding that relationship.
Orsi said Burch is "trying to drive a wedge between the pope's authority as a world leader and his authority as a spiritual leader, but this can't be done in Catholicism."
"The pope speaks religiously as a world leader, in a way that Donald Trump, for example, cannot," he said. "Just like the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist, so spiritual and temporal authority come together in the pope. Catholicism by its sacramental authority is where heaven and earth meet in a special way."
The exchange "doesn't bode well for improving relations with the Trump administration, which tends to have an overly exalted view of its leader," Orsi said.
What Has Pope Leo Said About Iran War?
Leo has been a vocal opponent of the Iran war. In April, he said he would ask "all people of good will to search always for peace and not violence, to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war."
"We have a worldwide economic crisis, energy crisis, a situation in the Middle East of great instability which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world," he said, urging authorities to "look for solutions in a peaceful way."
Their relationship took a turn in April after Trump remarks that "a whole civilization will die tonight" if Iran failed to meet a U.S. deadline tied to the war.
"Today, as we all know, there was this threat against all the people of Iran," the pope said. "This is truly unacceptable."
Trump has hit back at the pope's Iran war criticism, writing in an April 14 post to Truth Social, "Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable."
The Vatican, however, has noted that the church has long opposed nuclear weapons.
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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 3:26 PM.