(LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Robert Barron called on Donald Trump to apologize to Pope Leo XIV for harshly criticizing him.
Late Sunday night, the U.S. President attacked Leo on Truth Social for what he sees as his “weak” positions on crime and foreign policy, saying he doesn’t “want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela” or “who criticizes the President of the United States.”
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s ok for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump wrote, adding that Pope Leo “meets with Obama sympathizers like David Axelrod, a loser from the left, who is one of those who wanted churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo 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’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!”
Trump blasted Leo after the Pontiff condemned the U.S.-backed war on Iran.
In his own statement on X, Barron chided Trump’s remarks as “entirely inappropriate and disrespectful.”
The statements made by President Trump on Truth Social regarding the Pope were entirely inappropriate and disrespectful. They don’t contribute at all to a constructive conversation. It is the Pope’s prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the…
— Bishop Robert Barron (@BishopBarron) April 13, 2026
“They don’t contribute at all to a constructive conversation. It is the Pope’s prerogative to articulate Catholic doctrine and the principles that govern the moral life. In regard to the concrete application of those principles, people of good will can and do disagree,” Barron said.
The bishop expressed his gratitude for the Trump administration’s outreach to Catholics and asserted, “No President in my lifetime has shown a greater dedication to defending our first liberty.”
“All that said, I think the President owes the Pope an apology,” Barron concluded.
Leo responded firmly to Trump, according to ANSA, the Italian news wire service. “I am not afraid of the Trump administration,” the Pontiff replied.
“I speak about the Gospel” and therefore “I will continue to speak out against war,” he added in comments to journalists on his flight from Rome to Algeria.
Various prelates have come out in defense of Leo’s condemnation of war.
“Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV is showing the world that in the face of war, God demands peace,” Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark stated.
Archbishop John Wilson: “Our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV is showing the world that in the face of war, God demands peace. As Pope Leo has made clear, we cannot stand by and allow the message of the Gospel to be abused.
“As bishops, we are not politicians, nor statesmen, nor do we… pic.twitter.com/myk8ZktXW9
— Archdiocese of Southwark (@RC_Southwark) April 13, 2026
Cardinal Baldo Reina, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, affirmed his “full support” for Leo “in the face of shocking attacks on his teaching of peace.”
Cardinal Fernando Chomali of Santiago, Chile, praised Leo for defending the “defenseless” and promoting “peace always and under all circumstances.”
Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia; Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey; and the University of Notre Dame President Robert Dowd also spoke out in defense of Pope Leo’s call for peace.
Bishop Michael F. Burbidge issued the following statement in response to President Trump’s Truth Social posts made last night:
“Along with Archbishop Coakley, President of the USCCB, and my brother bishops, I was disheartened by recent comments from President Trump concerning…
— Catholic Diocese of Arlington (@arlingtonchurch) April 13, 2026
Statement from Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, Archbishop of Newark. @CardinalJWTobin pic.twitter.com/nqAEbYLufS
— Newark Archdiocese (@NwkArchdiocese) April 13, 2026
A statement from University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., in support of Pope Leo XIV: pic.twitter.com/cbIXexA9vb
— University of Notre Dame (@NotreDame) April 13, 2026