Trump accuses pope of ‘endangering a lot of Catholics’ with Iran stance

<p>US president directs fresh criticism at pontiff days before secretary of state Marco Rubio’s visit to Vatican</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/may/05/iran-us-israel-lebanon-strait-of-hormuz-ships-oil-uae-latest-news-updates">Middle East crisis – live updates</a></p></li></ul><p>Donald Trump has issued a fresh verbal attack against Pope Leo XIV, accusing the pontiff of “endangering a lot of Catholics” because “he thinks it’s fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon”.</p><p>The remarks come two days before <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/04/marco-rubio-to-meet-pope-leo-after-trumps-broadside-against-pontiff">Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, meets Leo at the Vatican</a> in an effort to ease the tensions sparked by Trump’s previous broadside against the Chicago-born pontiff over his condemnation of the US-Israeli war on Iran.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/05/donald-trump-accuses-pope-leo-of-endangering-a-lot-of-catholics-with-iran-stance">Continue reading...</a>