{"id":27165,"date":"2026-04-20T03:22:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stingfm.com\/news\/pope-denies-tyrants-speech-aimed-at-trump\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T03:22:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T07:22:51","slug":"pope-denies-tyrants-speech-aimed-at-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stingfm.com\/news\/pope-denies-tyrants-speech-aimed-at-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope denies \u2018tyrants\u2019 speech aimed at Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><strong>The US president has lashed out at the pontiff over his criticism of the war in the Middle East<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Pope Leo has sought to downplay his public spat with US President Donald Trump, rejecting claims that he was trying to challenge the president with his criticism of the war in Iran and calls for peace.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"710\" data-end=\"949\">Speaking to reporters on a flight to Angola on Saturday, the US-born pontiff insisted that his remarks were not meant to be confrontational, while criticizing the media for inflating the row through excessive commentary and speculation.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"951\" data-end=\"1358\"><em>\u201cThere\u2019s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects\u2026 much of what has been written\u2026 has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,\u201d<\/em> the Pope said. He stressed that his remarks in Cameroon earlier this week, blasting leaders who spend billions on wars and describing the world as <em>\u201cravaged by a handful of tyrants,\u201d<\/em> were not directed at Trump.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1360\" data-end=\"1490\"><em>\u201cAnd yet, as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not my interest at all,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n        <span><strong>Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<figure>\n            <imgsrc=\"\" alt=\"RT composite.\"><figcaption><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/638425-us-president-pope-history\/\">POTUS vs. Pontiff: a brief history of US clashes with the Vatican<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Pope has criticized Trump\u2019s policies in the past, including mass deportations and his description of Europe as <em>\u201cdecaying,\u201d<\/em> though the war in the Middle East has raised tensions between them. He called on all sides to <em>\u201cstop the spiral of violence,\u201d<\/em> and described Trump\u2019s threat to destroy Iranian civilization as <em>\u201cunacceptable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>He added that God <em>\u201cdoes not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,\u201d<\/em> after US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth urged Americans to pray <em>\u201cin the name of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2017\" data-end=\"2199\">Trump has described the pope as <em>\u201cweak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy,\u201d<\/em> adding that he does not want <em>\u201ca pope who criticizes the President of the United States.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2201\" data-end=\"2306\">US Vice President J.D. Vance, who also previously criticized the Pope, welcomed Leo\u2019s latest remarks.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2308\" data-end=\"2540\"><em>\u201cI am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this,\u201d<\/em> Vance wrote on X on Sunday. <em>\u201cWhile the media narrative constantly gins up conflict <\/em>\u2013\u00a0<em>and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen <\/em>\u2013<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><em>the reality is often much more complicated.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US president has lashed out at the pontiff over his criticism of the war in the Middle East Pope Leo has sought to downplay his public spat with US President Donald Trump, rejecting claims that he was trying to challenge the president with his criticism of the war in Iran and calls for peace. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[483],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rt-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pope denies \u2018tyrants\u2019 speech aimed at Trump - Sting FM<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope denies \u2018tyrants\u2019 speech aimed at Trump - Sting FM\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The US president has lashed out at the pontiff over his criticism of the war in the Middle East Pope Leo has sought to downplay his public spat with US President Donald Trump, rejecting claims that he was trying to challenge the president with his criticism of the war in Iran and calls for peace. 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