Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Monday condemned US President Donald Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV as “unacceptable”, after the US pontiff spoke out against the Middle East war.

“The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn all forms of war,” she said in a statement.

It represents a rare rebuke of Trump by Meloni, a far-right leader who has sought to be a bridge between the conservative US president and European leaders.

Meloni earlier put out a statement supporting Pope Leo’s efforts at peace and reconciliation in a trip to Africa, which began Monday, just hours after Trump launched a scathing criticism of the first US pontiff.

“I thought the meaning of my statement this morning was clear, but I will restate it more explicitly. I find President Trump’s words about the Holy Father unacceptable,” she said.

Speaking to reporters late Sunday, Trump said he was “not a big fan of Pope Leo”, accusing the pontiff of “toying with a country (Iran) that wants a nuclear weapon”.

The president later doubled down on his comments with a post on Truth Social, saying: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” he said.

His comments drew outrage from many Italian politicians, while Catholic bishops from the United States and Italy were quick to defend the pontiff.

Leo himself told reporters on the plane to Algeria — the first stop on a four-nation tour that also takes in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea — that he had a “moral duty” to speak out against war.

“I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel,” he said.

Trump refuses to apologise

Meanwhile, President Trump refused to apologise on Monday for criticising Pope Leo XIV, after the pontiff called for an end to violence in the Iran war.

“There’s nothing to apologise for. He’s wrong,” Trump told reporters, a day after a social media post and comments slamming the US-born pope.

“Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran,” said Trump, adding that Leo was “very weak on crime and other things.”