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President Donald Trump refused to apologize to Pope Leo XIV on Monday after criticizing the pontiff for his opposition to the war in Iran \u2014 and he sought to explain away a now-deleted social media post depicting himself as Jesus by saying he had thought the image was of him as a doctor.<\/p>\n
Trump was asked about his comments toward the U.S.-born head of the Catholic Church, as well as the post depicting himself as a healer, in a hastily called question-and-answer session with reporters at the White House.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very much against what I\u2019m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result,\u201d Trump said, adding, \u201cI think he\u2019s very weak on crime and other things so I\u2019m not\u201d going to apologize.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe went public,\u201d the Republican president added. \u201cI\u2019m just responding to Pope Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n
That response followed Leo pushing back on Trump\u2019s\u00a0broadside against him\u00a0the previous evening, telling reporters that the Vatican\u2019s appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel and that he doesn\u2019t fear the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo put my message on the same plane as what the president has attempted to do here, I think is not understanding what the message of the Gospel is,\u201d Leo told The Associated Press aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria. \u201cAnd I\u2019m sorry to hear that, but I will continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The back-and-forth between the world\u2019s two most influential Americans served to deepen a burgeoning schism as the U.S. war in Iran stretched into its seventh week.<\/p>\n
History\u2019s first U.S.-born pope stressed that he was not making a direct attack against Trump or anyone else with his general appeal for peace and criticisms of the Iran war and other conflicts around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for,\u201d said Leo, who said he had a different perspective on foreign policy than elected officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will continue to speak out strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Trump speaks to his much-criticized social media post<\/p>\n
The image posted by the president Sunday night showed Trump wearing a biblical-style robe and laying hands on a bedridden man as light emanates from his fingers \u2014 while a soldier, a nurse, a praying woman and a bearded man in a baseball cap all look on admiringly. The sky above is filled with eagles, an American flag and vaporous images.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor and it had to do with the Red Cross,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt\u2019s supposed to me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better. A lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n
He blamed the \u201cfake news\u201d for any confusion over the image, though it drew criticism from a wide range of people, including some of Trump\u2019s own evangelical supporters, who objected to the notion that Trump was likening himself to Christ. Even Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, assailed the \u201cdesecration of Jesus\u201d while also speaking up to defend the pope.<\/p>\n
The post was deleted from Trump\u2019s account late Monday morning. Trump didn\u2019t provide details on how that happened.<\/p>\n
Trump had charged that Leo is not \u2018doing a very good job\u2019<\/p>\n
The president criticized the pope in a lengthy social media post while flying back to Washington from Florida on Sunday night. He kept up the denunciation after deplaning, telling reporters, \u201cI\u2019m not a fan of Pope Leo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo said Saturday during an evening prayer service at St. Peter\u2019s Basilica that a\u00a0\u201cdelusion of omnipotence\u201d\u00a0was fueling the\u00a0U.S.-Israel war in Iran. The comments came the same day that the United States and Iran\u00a0began face-to-face negotiations\u00a0in Pakistan during a fragile ceasefire.<\/p>\n
The pope had earlier named Trump directly and expressed optimism that the president would seek \u201can off-ramp\u201d in Iran. An even stronger condemnation came after Trump warned of mass strikes against Iranian power plants and infrastructure, writing on social media that \u201can entire civilization will die tonight.\u201d Leo described that as a \u201cthreat against the entire people of Iran\u201d and said it was \u201ctruly unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s not unusual for popes and presidents to be at cross purposes, it\u2019s exceedingly rare for the pope to directly criticize a U.S. leader \u2014 and Trump\u2019s stinging response is equally uncommon.<\/p>\n
\u201cPope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,\u201d the president wrote in his post, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t want a Pope who thinks it\u2019s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo\u2019s opposition to war irked Trump<\/p>\n
Leo, who began an 11-day trip to Africa on Monday, has previously said that God \u201cdoes not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.\u201d He\u2019s also referred to an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, saying that \u201ceven though you make many prayers, I will not listen \u2014 your hands are full of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, in his comments on Monday, as in his Sunday night social media post, Trump went far beyond the war in Iran in criticizing Leo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I\u2019m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.\u201d His post also claimed that Leo was only elected pontiff \u201cbecause he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I wasn\u2019t in the White House, Leo wouldn\u2019t be in the Vatican,\u201d Trump wrote, adding, \u201cLeo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It\u2019s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it\u2019s hurting the Catholic Church!\u201d<\/p>\n
In his comments to reporters after stepping off Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said of Leo, \u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,\u201d adding, \u201cHe\u2019s a very liberal person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also said he was \u201cdisheartened\u201d by Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cPope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician,\u201d Coakley said in a statement. \u201cHe is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Winfield reported from aboard the papal plane.<\/p>\n
#Trump #refuses #apologize #Pope #offers #implausible #explanation #tweeting #Jesus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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