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Topics: News, US News, World News, Pope Leo, Donald Trump
Kit Roberts
Topics: News, US News, World News, Pope Leo, Donald Trump
Donald Trump has delivered a scathing criticism of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni after she criticized Trump's comments on Pope Leo XIV.
Meloni leads a right wing government in Italy, and has previously had good relations with Trump since his re-election as US president.
But those relations have soured after Meloni, who is a practising Catholic, clashed with Trump over his remarks towards the Pope, where Trump called the Pope 'terrible for foreign policy', and 'weak on crime'.
Trump's criticism came after Pope Leo publicly condemned his ongoing war with Iran, in which Trump previously threatened that 'a whole civilization will die tonight'.
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The Pope, who is the first US citizen to be elected as head of the Catholic Church, responded by telling reporters: "I have 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, what the Church is here to do."
Asked about the exchange, Meloni responded: "The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war."
Now, Trump has directed an attack on Meloni in a phone interview with Italian newspaper Corriera Della Sera.
Asked about Meloni's remarks, Trump said: “It’s her who’s unacceptable, because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if it had the chance.”
Trump also said that he had been left 'shocked by her', adding: "I thought she was brave, but I was wrong.”
In the interview Trump also hit out at Meloni for refusing to help the US in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said: "She doesn't think Italy should be involved. She thinks America should do the job for her."
Around 20 percent of world oil shipping has to pass through the strait, which Iran closed off after Israel and the US launched their war against the Islamic Republic.
Since then, oil prices have spiked, creating increasing market instability.
Meloni and Trump have shared common ground on several issues, including their stances on immigration.
However, Trump's public feud with Pope Leo appears to have now driven a wedge between them.
Trump has even previously suggested that he is the reason that the latest conclave elected Leo, saying he was elected as pontiff 'because he was American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump."
He added: "If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican."
The US has around 70 million Catholics, making up roughly one fifth of its population and being the fourth largest population of Catholics in the world after Brazil, Mexico, and The Philippines.