Trump takes another swipe at Pope Leo XIV, claims Iran killed over 40,000 ‘innocent’ protestors

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump took another shot at Pope Leo XIV late Monday night, urging “someone” to brief the pontiff on the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdown.

The latest jab is part of an ongoing back-and-forth between the President and the newly elected Pope, who has taken aim at Trump’s immigration policies and his decision to attack Iran.

Tensions boiled over last week when Leo posted on X, “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

Trump calls out the Pope

Trump didn’t take it lightly. On Sunday, he unloaded on Truth Social and branded the pope “WEAK," adding, “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.”

This was followed by Trump sharing an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure tending to a sick man. The post sparked backlash, even from his own MAGA camp, and was later deleted.

Trump later claimed he believed it showed him as a doctor working for the Red Cross.

But just before midnight, Trump doubled down with another Truth Social post.

"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," he wrote. "Thank you for your attention to this matter. AMERICA IS BACK!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP."

Estimates of protesters killed in Iran in recent months range between 7,000 (per PBS) and 37,000 (per Iran International).

JD Vance weighs in on the Pope's comments

Earlier in the day, Vice President JD Vance suggested the Pope should tread carefully when addressing theological issues. 

“Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those, those innocent people, you know, those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is yes,” he said at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia.

Vance, a Catholic who met the new Pope in May, made clear he doesn’t oppose papal commentary outright.

“Now we can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just, but I think in the way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance said.

“But I think one of the issues here is that if you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth, and that’s one of the things that I try to do, and it’s certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they’re Catholic or Protestant,” he added.