Pope points to Church opposition to nukes after Trump falsely claimed he said ‘Iran can have a nuclear weapon’

Pope Leo XIV pointed out May 5 that the Catholic Church has long opposed nuclear arms after President Donald Trump falsely claimed the Pontiff had made a “statement” saying “Iran can have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump reiterated the accusation against the Pope for the third time during a May 4 radio interview, when host Hugh Hewitt raised the case of Jimmy Lai, a Catholic pro-democracy advocate serving a 20-year prison sentence. Hewitt said Pope Leo should say more on Lai’s behalf. The Chinese Communist Party’s targeting of Lai and other Catholic leaders has put mounting pressure on the Vatican to disentangle itself from a controversial deal with China, first signed in 2018. As Zeale News reported, the Holy Father said he could not comment when asked about Lai’s sentencing in March.

"The Pope would rather talk about the fact that it's okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don't think that's very good," Trump said. "I think he's endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people. But I guess if it's up to the Pope, he thinks it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon."

Trump had made the same claim weeks earlier in an April 12 Truth Social post in which he wrote, “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.” He later told reporters that evening, “We don’t like a Pope that’s gonna say that it’s okay to have a nuclear weapon.” 

On April 16, Trump went so far as to claim Pope Leo had explicitly said the Iranian regime could have a nuke. “The Pope made a statement – he says, ‘Iran can have a nuclear weapon,’” the President told reporters.

Pope Leo has never publicly said Iran should be permitted to develop nuclear weapons. Rather, he has repeatedly denounced nuclear arms, urging the United States and Russia to renew the New START treaty and calling on world leaders to eliminate nuclear weapons entirely as an “urgent moral imperative,” as Zeale News reported. 

The Pope’s comments reflect the Church's longstanding opposition to nuclear arms, a position held by the leaders of the Church since Pope Pius XII spoke out against such weapons in 1943 — more than two years before the Trinity test and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

Asked about the President’s claims, the Pope stressed that "the mission of the Church is to proclaim the Gospel, to preach peace.”

"The Church has spoken for years against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt about this," the Holy Father said. "If anyone wishes to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so with the truth."

Trump’s criticism arrives amid wider debate over the Holy Father’s outspoken opposition to U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. 

During his Palm Sunday homily, delivered as the conflict entered its second month, Pope Leo quoted the prophet Isaiah, saying “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” The homily prompted criticism from Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, who pointed to the Church’s just war tradition and said it was “very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

Shortly afterward, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a clarification on just war teaching, saying the Pope’s remarks aligned with Church doctrine and were not a personal theological departure. 

>> US bishops push back on Vance’s ‘just war’ comments << 

A reporter asked the Holy Father May 5 whether his Palm Sunday remarks applied to nations acting in self-defense as well as aggressors.

"Self-defense has traditionally always been allowed by the Church,” the Pope said. He described just war doctrine as "a very complex problem" requiring analysis "on many levels," but said the nuclear era had changed the terms of that debate.

"Ever since the entrance into the nuclear age, the whole concept of war has to be reevaluated," he said. "I always believe that it's much better to enter into dialogue than to look for arms and to support the arms industry, which gains billions and billions of dollars each year."

“I simply hope to be listened to because of the value of the word of God,” he said, emphasizing that he has spoken clearly since the start of his papacy. “From the first moment I was elected — and now we are close to the anniversary — I said: ‘Peace be with you.’”