Elise Stefanik says Pope 'politically attacked' Trump first

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) was confronted by CNN on Wednesday about President Donald Trump's ongoing battle with Pope Leo XIV. According to Stefanik it was Leo who started the fight and he shouldn't be getting involved in politics.

"I don't want to see the pope as a politician," she complained. "And you know the president. We know his leadership style. He is going to stand strong for the American people. And the president of the United States is a political figure. Of course, he's going to be engaged in politics when he's politically attacked."

It's the pope, she argued, who shouldn't be speaking out about such matters.

"I don't want to see the pope get involved in domestic politics," she said about the pope's comments on an international war. "What I think we can highlight as Catholics, for myself, is the increasing number of new Catholics entering the church, and that's a great success for the Catholic Church long term."

The "attack," she said, that the pope made on Trump came ahead of his ten-day trip across Africa, traveling to some of the worst war-torn areas on the continent. The first comment responded to Trump's post to TruthSocial that he was about to kill a "whole civilization."

The Catholic church currently opposes genocide. Leo called such a threat "truly unacceptable."

Trump responded by implying Leo supported nuclear weapons in Iran.

"I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon," said Trump. He then characterized the pontiff as "Weak on Nuclear Weapons."

This comes about a month after the pope spoke out on nuclear weapons and called for "peace in the world" and prayed, "May the nuclear threat never again dictate the future of humanity."

On April 10, The Free Press reported that the Pentagon called in a Vatican ambassador to complain about the pope's comments. The story blew up in the meeting, after The Free Press cited an unidentified source saying that the Vatican was told, "the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants."

The president then kept the feud going, calling the pope “WEAK on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy."

On April 12, Trump told reporters, "We don't like a pope that's gonna say that it's okay to have a nuclear weapon." The pope never said that.

"I'm not a big fan of Pope Leo," Trump said.

That's when Leo responded again, telling reporters during a flight to Algeria: "I have no fear of either the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel. That's what I believe I am called to do, what the church is called to do. We're not politicians, we're not here to make foreign policy as he calls it, with the same perspective that he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the gospel, blessed are the peacemakers, is a message that the world needs to hear today."

While speaking in Algeria, Pope Leo said, “God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies." He never mentioned Trump's name.

CNN further asked Stefanik about Trump depicting himself as Jesus Christ in an image he posted on Sunday. Stefanik said that Trump made the right choice in taking it down. She then bashed CNN for talking about it. She said she would rather talk about Trump's "results."

Co-host Pamela Brown cut in to say, "But then he attacked the pope." She also pointed out that it was Republican Catholics and Christians who came out against Trump over both issues.

"The pope, from my perspective, should not be engaging in political attacks. I don't want to see the pope as a politician. So, Iwas disappointed to see thatattack from the pope. And I knowCNN wants to continue to focuson these tweets. This is whathas been happening for the pastten years. Look at the results."

Brown responded that it isn't about CNN focusing on its members of Trump's own party. "But you just asked how many questions on it," Stefanik cut off. Brown then pivoted away to stop asking her about Trump.

Leo was on his way Wednesday to Cameroon, where separatists agreed to a three-day pause in deadly violence there to allow safe passage for the pope to host a "peace meeting" on Thursday.

In the first weeks of Trump's war, Pope Leo's X account posted about the attacks from all countries, encouraging people to pray "for the roar of bombs to cease, weapons to fall silent, and space to open for dialogue, in which people's voices may be heard."

Since the back-and-forth, Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, told the Pope he should "be careful" when discussing theology.

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