Trump’s false charge against Pope Leo

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | May 07, 2026

President Trump has now made and repeated a blatant falsehood: that Pope Leo “thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”

In a May 5 appearance on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Trump said: “The Pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” Pope Leo has never said anything remotely like that. In fact he has never spoken directly to the question of whether Iran has, could have, or should have a nuclear weapon. Trump could have chosen to criticize the Pontiff’s silence on that issue, but he—characteristically—went further, inventing a papal posture that would be easier to attack.

What does the Pope think about the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran? We don’t know; he hasn’t said. Complain about that if you like. Pope Leo has made it clear that he opposes the US war against Iran, but he has not said what American action, if any, would be justified.

Pope Leo has said—as has every other Roman Pontiff of the nuclear era—that he longs for a world in which no country, including the US, has nuclear weapons. It follows, therefore, that he does not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. So Trump’s complaint is false.

However, anyone who criticizes Trump’s overblown rhetoric is likely to incur the wrath of the President’s supporters. That’s just the way Trump talks, they will insist. He doesn’t really mean that the Pope wants a nuclear-armed Iran—just as he didn’t really mean that he would bomb Iran back to the stone age. He exaggerates.

But two sides can play that game. Trump’s fans complained when Pope Leo said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” Surely the Holy Father didn’t mean that God would be deaf to the prayer of an honest soldier, defending his own country in a just war. No doubt the Pope’s intent was to say that God does not honor prayers for victory if they are made by an unjust aggressor.

If we are willing to give President Trump the benefit of the doubt, and assume that his intent is more reasonable than what his actual words convey, we should extend the same courtesy to the Pontiff. Better yet, we could request that both the Pope and the President choose their words carefully.