Trump assails Pope Leo again, just before Rubio’s Vatican trip

US President Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of Pope Leo, potentially complicating a fence-mending visit that Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to make to the Vatican on Thursday.

In an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, Trump said the first American-born pontiff was helping Iran and also making the world less safe with his comments about the importance of not treating immigrants with disrespect.

“The pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said in the interview on Monday. “And I don’t think that’s very good. I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics and a lot of people.”

The pope, however, has not said Iran should obtain nuclear weapons. He has called for more peace talks, and criticised war with Iran generally and Trump’s specific threats of mass civilian strikes. The pope also has emphasised that he’s reflecting biblical and church teachings, not speaking as a political rival to Trump.

Leo responded to Trump’s latest criticism by calling out the US president’s misrepresentation of his views. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, the pope said the Catholic Church “for years has spoken out against all nuclear weapons, so there is no doubt there”.

He also doubled down on his insistence that his call for peace and dialogue in the US-Israeli war in Iran was biblically inspired.