President Trump insisted on Thursday that he is not “fighting” with Pope Leo while falsely claiming that the first U.S.-born pontiff had stated that Iran should be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.
“I have nothing against the pope,” Trump said when asked by reporters about their ongoing rift over the Iran war. “I'm not fighting with him.”
“The pope made a statement, he says Iran can have a nuclear weapon,” the president added. “And I say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
The pope has not stated that Iran should have nuclear weapons and has a history of speaking out against them.
Leo, who has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the Iran war, has urged leaders to use dialogue to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict, now in its seventh week.
Speaking in Cameroon Thursday as part of his 11-day tour of Africa, the pope sharply criticized those who use religion to justify military actions.
“The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild,” he said in a speech at St. Joseph's Cathedral in Bamenda. “Blessed are the peacemakers, but woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”
The pope did not mention Trump or Iran’s nuclear weapons program in his remarks.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” Leo said, “yet it is held together by a multitude...
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