Trump won’t back down from Pope Leo feud sparked by “60 Minutes” report, tells CBS News pontiff should stay out of politics

President Trump told CBS News senior correspondent Norah O’Donnell that Pope Leo is “wrong on the issues” Monday after lashing out at the pontiff late Sunday, calling him “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a lengthy Truth Social post.

In a phone interview, Mr. Trump confirmed that he had watched “60 Minutes,” which highlighted Pope Leo’s disapproval of mass deportations and the Iran war, before firing off the post. When asked if he plans to call the pope directly, Mr. Trump gave a firm “no.”

“He’s wrong on the issues,” Mr. Trump said of Pope Leo. “I don’t think he should be getting into politics. I think he probably learned that from this.” 

Mr. Trump also said he wasn’t sure whether Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff, would visit the States during Trump’s presidency. “I have no idea,” he said. “It’s up to him, not up to me.”

The president admitted he was surprised by the backlash from the Christian right over the now-deleted AI image he posted to Truth Social Sunday night which depicted him as a Jesus-like figure. He said he thought the image was by “a very beautiful, talented artist,” and he said he believed the photo intended to depict him as a doctor, and not Jesus.

“I viewed that as a picture of me being a doctor in fixing — you had the Red Cross right there, you had, you know, medical people surrounding me. And I was like the doctor, you know, as a little fun playing the doctor and making people better. So that’s what it was viewed as. That’s what most people thought.”

Asked why took down the photo, Mr. Trump said, “Normally I don’t like doing that, but I didn’t want to have anybody be confused. People were confused.”

Earlier Monday on X, conservative activist Riley Gaines said she couldn’t understand why Trump posted the image, asking: “Does he actually like this?” She added that “a little humility would serve him well” and that “God shall not be mocked.”

When asked if he took the post down because of Gaines’ and others’ criticism, President Trump said no. “I didn’t listen to Riley Gaines. I’m not a big fan of Riley, actually.”

The president also remarked that he believes he has “done more for the Catholic Church than any president in the last hundred years.” He said, “During COVID I gave them billions of dollars. They were gonna go under. I gave them billions of dollars for education and that’s not the right way to treat somebody that’s been so good.”

Pope Leo addressed Mr. Trump’s Truth Social post while on a flight to Algeria on Monday. “The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone, and the message of the Gospel is very clear: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers,'” he said. 

“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” Pope Leo said. “We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker. “