- Iranian President Pezeshkian condemned Trump's remarks targeting Pope Leo XIV's peace calls
- Trump shared and then deleted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus Christ
- Trump criticised Pope Leo for being weak on crime and foreign policy, citing COVID arrests
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has condemned his American counterpart, Donald Trump's remarks targeting Pope Leo XIV for his calls to end the war in West Asia.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Pezeshkian wrote, “His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, I condemn the insult to Your Excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran, and declare that the desecration of Jesus, the prophet of peace and brotherhood, is not acceptable to any free person. I wish you glory by Allah.”
His remarks came after Trump shared an AI-generated image that depicted him in a somewhat Jesus Christ-like form. The post was later deleted following backlash from sections of the public, including some of his supporters.
The image appeared online shortly after the US president criticised Pope Leo for his views.
“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn't mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” the president wrote in his post.
“I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” he added.
The comments followed observations made by Pope Leo over the weekend, where he warned against what he described as a “delusion of omnipotence” driving military actions linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Pope on Monday addressed the issue on his African tour. He made clear that he did not see himself stepping into a political confrontation.
“The message of the church, my message, the message of the gospel: blessed are the peacemakers. I do not look at my role as being political, a politician,” he had said.
The pope also said that he had "no fear" of the Trump administration or “speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do.”
