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President Donald Trump rejected American Bishop Robert Barron's call to apologize to the Pope on Monday for comments he made on Truth Social, arguing that it was the Pope who is "wrong."
Trump sparked a row with the Roman Catholic Church when he called Pope Leo out for his stance on the Iran war. Barron, while expressing gratitude for Trump's defense of religious liberty, responded by politely suggesting that the president should apologize to the Pope for these comments.
Trump was asked by a reporter whether he planned on making such an apology.
"No I don't, because Pope Leo said things that were wrong. he was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," Trump replied. "Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result. You have hundreds of millions of people dead. And it's not going to happen. So again, I think he's very weak on crime and other things."
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Trump went on to recall that he had praised the Pope's brother, saying he likes him "better than I like the Pope."
"You have to have law and order in our country. And that's what we have now," Trump said. "We have the lowest crime numbers we've had in a long time, despite the fact that many criminals were allowed into our country. But we've gotten a lot of them out. We've done a great job on crime. So we have the lowest murder rate in 125 years, since 1900, the lowest murder rate."
"So we believe strongly in law and order," Trump concluded. "And he seemed to have a problem with that. So there's nothing to apologize for. He's wrong. And the other thing is he didn't like what we're doing with respect to Iran. But Iran is a - wants to be a nuclear nation. So they can exterminate the world. Not gonna happen."
"Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," Trump had written previously on Truth Social. "He talks about 'fear' of the Trump Administration, but doesn't mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart."
Trump went on to make numerous other controversial statements in the post, such as declaring that he prefers Louis Prevost, Pope Leo XIV's brother, more than the Pope himself, saying ""He gets it, and Leo doesn't! I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon."
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"The statements made by President Trump on Truth Social regarding the Pope were entirely inappropriate and disrespectful," Barron responded in an X post. "They don't contribute at all to a constructive conversation. It is the Pope's prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the moral life. In regard to the concrete application of those principles, people of good will can and do disagree."
"I would warmly recommend that serious Catholics within the Trump administration - Secretary Rubio, Vice President Vance, Ambassador Brian Burch, and others - might meet with Vatican officials so that a real dialogue can take place," he continued. "This is far preferable to the statements on social media."
"I am very grateful for the many ways that the Trump administration has reached out to Catholics and other people of faith," Barron added. "It has been a high honor to serve on the Religious Liberty Commission. No President in my lifetime has shown a greater dedication to defending our first liberty. All that said, I think the President owes the Pope an apology."
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Shortly after feuding with the Pope over the weekend, Trump upset many Christians by posting what many have called a "blasphemous" AI art image of what many said appeared to be a portrayal of himself as a Jesus-like figure healing the sick. Some speculated that this was an attempt to troll the Pope, having been posted amid the administration's feud with Roman Catholic leadership.
While Trump has denied he was trying to portray himself as the messiah, arguing of his image where he is in white and red robes with what appears to be holy light emanating from his hands that he was trying to portray "me as a doctor." He has since deleted the post.
