The U.S. war with Iran has drawn sharp criticism from Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born leader of the Roman Catholic Church, eliciting a brash response from President Donald Trump.
Trump on social media called the pope “weak on crime,” posted and later deleted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ and accused the pope of supporting Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. In New Jersey, Bishop David M. O’Connell, who leads 830,000 faithful in the four-county Catholic Diocese of Trenton, described the pontiff’s response as measured and principled.
“His response has been very direct, very clear, very respectful,” O’Connell told NJ Spotlight News. “I don’t think he has any desire — and he’s said this — to get into a debate or a war of words with the president of the United States.”
O’Connell also addressed Trump’s suggestion that the pope and the Catholic Church have become too politically liberal.
“I’m not exactly sure what that means, that the pope or the church have become much more liberal,” O’Connell said. “He doesn’t want to get involved in any politics. He preaches the Gospel and he’s going to continue to preach that Gospel no matter how it’s interpreted by political figures.”
“The pope is speaking as the universal shepherd, the universal leader of the Church, and he’s speaking with a moral clarity,” O’Connell said. “He’s making every effort to focus attention away from war, away from violence, away from some of these things he’s been accused of having said, to try to get people to be much more involved and interested in what the Church preaches. And what the Church preaches and the pope preaches is the Gospel.”
We’re in this together.
For a better-informed future.
Support our nonprofit newsroom.
