Pope Leo has responded to Trump’s attack. Here’s what it tells us

NewsWorldEuropeAnalysisPope Leo has responded to Trump’s attack. Here’s what it tells usPope Leo’s opposition to the Iran war is not political in origin, Darius von Guttner Sporzynski writesTuesday 14 April 2026 12:28 BSTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popover{"translations":{"comments":"Go to comments","share":"Share","copyLink":"Copy link","bookmark":"Bookmark","removeBookmark":"Remove bookmark"},"showComments":true,"showBookmark":true,"articleId":"b2957284","articleMeta":{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/trump-pope-leo-response-iran-war-b2957284.html","title":"Pope Leo has responded to Trump’s attack. Here’s what it tells us"},"popoverPlacementOverride":"bottom"}CloseA timeline of Trump and Pope Leo's escalating feud over Iran warOn The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchEmail*SIGN UPI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice{"className":"sc-1ge0fwe-0","newsletterData":{"regSourceNewsletter":"IND_On_The_Ground_Newsletter","regTitle":"On The Ground","subscriptionGroup":"on_the_ground","subscriptionGroupId":"14806361-6435-4d19-b06e-05326605fb01","pathPrefix":["/news/world/europe","/news/world/middle-east","/news/world/australasia","/news/world/africa","/asia"],"associatedAuthors":["Bel Trew","Sam Kiley"],"title":"On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","mobileTitle":"Get a weekly international news dispatch","lengthenedMobileTitle":"Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents","imageSrc":"https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/images/newsletters/onTheGround1_1.png","newsletterKey":"receiveOnTheGround","regSourceSection":"Europe","regSourceMethod":"NSCs"}}When Pope Leo XIV condemned threats to destroy Iranian civilisation as “truly...