'Someone should explain...': Trump renews attack on Pope Leo for meeting 'useless' Chicago mayor

US President Donald Trump has once again launched attack on Pope Leo XIV on Saturday (May 29) as he met Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Claiming that Johnson is “useless,” Trump suggested that Vatican officials should have cautioned the pontiff against hosting the Democratic leader. Taking to his social media platform, Truth Social, the Republican leader expressed his disapproval of the diplomatic engagement in Italy. "Someone should explain to the Pope that the Mayor of Chicago is useless, and that Iran cannot have a Nuclear Weapon!" Trump wrote.

Also Read: Trump shares AI-image of himself as Christ

Earlier, Trump had reiterated his staunch opposition to the pontiff's theological and political stances. "I don't want a Pope who thinks it's OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don't want a Pope who thinks it's terrible that America attacked Venezuela," he wrote. In the same statement, the President firmly rejected external oversight regarding his domestic mandate, adding, “I don't want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected to do.” Expanding on his security concerns, Trump has also charged the pontiff with "endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people", alleging that the religious leader's diplomatic stances inadvertently condone the development of nuclear armaments by the Iranian regime.

Also Read: 'Will someone please tell him...': Trump has a 'Iran nuclear bomb' message for Pope Leo

Trump-Pope Tensions Resurface

The sharp remarks from the US President appear to have reignited his highly publicised friction with the head of the Vatican. Though Trump celebrated the announcement that Leo XIV would be the first-ever American pontiff, Trump's opposition of Pope stems from Pope's remarks on Iran war. Since the war began, Pope Leo has called the war "unjust" and condemned Trump’s threats of total destruction as "truly unacceptable." Pope Leo has also criticized the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and ICE raids, describing the treatment of migrants as "inhuman" and an "affront to God-given human dignity."Pope declined an invitation to join Trump’s "Board of Peace" for Gaza and canceled a planned US visit for the country’s 250th anniversary in July 2026, choosing instead to meet with migrants. Trump courted a major controversy as he shared an AI-image of himself on Truth Social in which he appears like Jesus Christ. He later said that he assumed the picture depicts him as a doctor.