Latin American bishops support Pope Leo in wake of Trump’s social media attack

Church leaders the length and breadth of Latin America expressed their closeness to Leo XIV following a scathing attack on the pontiff by the US president Donald Trump.

The primate of Peru, Cardinal Carlos Castillo said the country’s bishops “supported [the Pope] in the light of the statements from a governor who had sought to undermine a Pope fulfilling his mission, the mission of Jesus.”

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday night, Donald J Trump described Pope Leo as “WEAK on crime”. He added: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” and said Leo was “terrible on foreign policy.”

Twenty-four hours earlier, Pope Leo held a prayer vigil for peace in St Peter’s Square. Last week, he described President Trump’s threat to “destroy” Iran last week as “unacceptable.”

As the Mexican bishops prepared to begin their plenary meeting they said they “renewed” their closeness to Pope Leo in the light of the “unfortunate words” of President Trump.

In the post on X which began with the words “blessed are those who work for peace” from the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference stated: “The Pope is not a political opponent but the successor of Peter who is called to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ who overcame hate with mercy and won peace from a Cross.”

Bishops from Costa Rica also published a statement to express their “profound concern” in relation to Trump’s statements.

“The Successor of Peter, along with the whole Church is called to serve God, truth and peace. In [the Pope’s] vehement insistence on peace, the sole concern is justice and love especially for the thousands of innocent people who remain the principal victims of the current world conflicts,” said the Costa Rican Bishops’ Conference.

Separately, the bishops of Chile said they had been “hurt” to note the Pope’s words had been belittled when he challenged consciences and called people to conversion.

“The mission of the Roman Pontiff is not circumscribed to the private sphere or that which merely concerns worship but should include the grave duty to enlighten the reality of the human race with the light of the Gospel, especially when… peace between nations is at stake,” the Chilean Bishops’ Conference said. They appealed for prayers for the Pope and for world leaders.

The bishops of Argentina meanwhile voiced their “gratitude” to Pope Leo for his persistent call for a peace that was “disarming” and involved disarmament. They praised his “brave shout out to those directly responsible that this was a time of peace and that they should sit down to dialogue and mediate, rather than plan rearmament or deliberate acts of death.”

In a separate statement, Paraguay’s bishops described Trump’s critique of the Pope as “regrettable”, saying: “As the pastors of a profoundly Catholic nation let us remember that unity with the Holy Father is the guarantee of unity with Christ himself.”

They continued: “We firmly believe that the election of the Holy Father is an act guided by the light of the Holy Spirit. No other temporal power or political interest is above the discernment of the Church. “

They “regretted” criticism of the mission of the Church to champion the most vulnerable and said: “We reaffirm our commitment to the protection of every human being without distinction and our untiring labour for social justice, the basis of all true peace.”

The bishops “exhorted” everyone to ensure their language was “respectful and “prudent” in the quest for “justice, peace and the well being of all peoples.” “Building peace requires bridges, not walls of confrontation,” they added.

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