Pope Leo XIV met privately with Obama's chief political strategist David Axelrod three days before Trump's post.
Now Trump has called him out by name – and the Pope's own brother is backing Trump.
And the American media is acting like Trump did something wrong by saying it out loud.
What Trump Said About Pope Leo XIV and Iran
Trump posted Sunday night on Truth Social and didn't hold back a single word.
He called Leo "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy."
He said he doesn't want a Pope who thinks it's acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2043496169691570686?s=20
He said he doesn't want a Pope who opposed the Venezuela operation – the one that finally removed Maduro and stopped the flow of drugs and criminals into American neighborhoods.
He said he doesn't want a Pope who meets with Obama operatives and then lectures the American president.
And then Trump dropped the line that has the Vatican scrambling: "If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican."
Every one of those points is verifiable.
Leo did call Trump's Iran policy "truly unacceptable."
Leo did oppose Venezuela.
Leo did meet with Axelrod – the man who engineered Obama's two presidential victories – and the Vatican confirmed the meeting but refused to say what was discussed.
Think about that.
The Pope holds a private meeting with one of the most prominent Democrat operatives in America, declines to disclose the topic, and then Trump is the one who gets attacked for pointing it out.
https://twitter.com/CatholicArena/status/2042207928069878195?s=20
Louis Prevost Is All MAGA and the Pope Knows It
Here is the detail that cuts through everything.
Leo's older brother Louis Prevost lives in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Louis describes himself as a "MAGA type."
Trump said in the same Truth Social post that he likes Louis "much better" than Leo – "because Louis is all MAGA."
Louis didn't push back.
So the Pope's own brother – a man who grew up in the same Chicago household, went to the same family dinners, shares the same blood – looks at what Leo is doing and sides with Trump.
https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/2043653617995899005?s=20
That tells you everything you need to know about whether this is a genuine theological mission or a political operation with a collar on it.
The David Axelrod Meeting Nobody Covered
Leo has been methodically building a case against Trump's foreign policy since Holy Week.
Palm Sunday: God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war."
Holy Saturday: A globally broadcast prayer vigil attacking the "idolatry of self" fueling the Iran conflict.
Easter Sunday: Calling on leaders everywhere to put down their weapons.
Then the private Axelrod meeting, details sealed.
This is not a pope spontaneously moved by the Gospel to speak out against war.
This is a coordinated campaign – timed to Holy Week for maximum visibility, building week by week, culminating with a meeting with a Democrat political strategist the media barely covered.
Trump saw it and named it.
Leo's response on the papal plane to Algeria was to say he has "no fear of the Trump administration."
Good for him.
But Trump didn't ask Leo to be afraid.
Trump asked him to stop pretending that meeting with David Axelrod and opposing American foreign policy at every turn is a theological exercise rather than a political one.
What the Liberal Media Wont Say About Trump and Catholic Voters
Trump carried 55% of the Catholic vote in 2024.
Those Catholics – your neighbors, your family members, people who go to Mass every Sunday – voted for Trump specifically because they wanted someone who would go after Iran's nuclear program, secure the border, and stop pandering to regimes that export terror and drugs.
Now they have an American-born Pope telling them their vote was wrong – not in political terms, but in theological terms.
He is telling his own American flock that God rejects what they voted for.
Trump called that out too.
"He talks about 'fear of the Trump Administration,'" Trump wrote, "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."
Where was Leo's righteous outrage when Democrat governors were shutting down churches and arresting clergy for holding outdoor services?
That's a question the American media will not ask.
Trump just did.
Sources:
- Elizabeth Weibel, "Trump Slams Pope Leo XIV: 'Weak on Crime' and 'Terrible for Foreign Policy,'" Breitbart, April 12, 2026.
- Simon Kent, "Pope Leo XIV Responds to Trump Criticism: 'I'm Sorry to Hear That,'" Breitbart, April 13, 2026.
- "Trump Blasts Pope Leo as 'Weak' and 'Terrible for Foreign Policy,'" National Catholic Register, April 13, 2026.
- "U.S. Bishops' President 'Disheartened' by Trump Attack on Pope Leo," EWTN News, April 13, 2026.
