President Donald Trump and the Department of Defense have spent the past several days in a back-and-forth with Pope Leo XIV, and one Jesuit priest said it's clear Trump has faith on his mind.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday night, Trump attacked the pope for being "weak on crime."
“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess,” Trump said. “I am not a fan of Pope Leo.”
Rev. James Martin told CNN that Pope Leo is refocusing the church on gospel values, which include refugees and migrants.
"He's reminding us that Jesus says we have to welcome the stranger," Martin explained. "But more recently, he's reminding us that Jesus said, ' Blessed are the peacemakers,' not blessed are the warmongers. And after the resurrection, his message to the disciples is, peace be with you. So you can't get away from the message of peace from Jesus, nor can you get away from the message of helping the poor. And you know, these are gospel topics. They're not political topics."
But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saw that as a slight against the United States. It prompted a showdown between a DOD official and Apostolic Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre.
According to a report by the Free Press, a defense official told Pierre that the U.S. has the military power to "do whatever it wants" and that the "Church had better take its side." In his Easter message, Pope Leo said that God "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war." Some viewed it as a slight at President Donald Trump, who just waged war against Iran.
Pierre said that he would characterize the meeting with the Pentagon as "frank but cordial."
The Free Press cited an anonymous Vatican official who characterized it as a bitter lecture.
The debate comes amid Trump's post on TruthSocial depicting himself as Jesus Christ. Trump spoke out on the matter just before CNN's interview with Martin. Trump said he though the photo depicted him as a "doctor."
"Yeah, I don't know many doctors [who] have glowing hands," said Martin. "So, that's the most Jesus-looking picture I think I could imagine. And I think it was pretty shocking, to me, that someone would put themselves in the place of Jesus. And as your reporter was just saying, it came after he had just been tweeting out a pretty hateful attack on Pope Leo. So obviously religion was on his mind last night."
Martin thinks it might have come from the president watching "60 Minutes," where three cardinals spoke about the Pope's support for peace not just in the Middle East but in all forms across the world.
The Pope has already come out against U.S. military action in Venezuela and called for an end to violence, and prayed that "the good of the beloved Venezuelan people" would prevail.
A pope calling for peace isn't anything new.
Pope Francis spoke out against violence over the years saying, “I think of nonviolence as a perspective and way of understanding the world, to which theology must look as one of its constitutive elements.” He also said that nonviolence is a “universal value that finds fulfilment in the Gospel of Christ.” He also called for a “nonviolent lifestyle,” noting “how nonviolence, embraced with conviction and practiced consistently, can yield significant results… This is the path to pursue now and in the future. This is the way of peace," a column by Rev. John Dear recalled.
Pope John Paul II called war "a defeat for humanity." On World Peace Day in 1972, Pope Paul VI famously said, “If you want peace, work for justice."
One of the cardinals interviewed in the "60 Minutes" piece said that, having worked under four popes, he firmly believes that each one was chosen for that moment in time. For that reason, he believes Pope Leo is the right person for the moment.
Martin told CNN that the pope is turning the church back to its roots, helping "the poor and ... the marginalized."
The pope has since made it clear, “I have no fear of the Trump administration.”