Pope Leo shares message of unity amid spat with Trump: ‘We can live in peace’

Leo doubles down on his message of peace as Trump and JD Vance continue to squabble with and insult the Vatican The ongoing squabble between the Trump administration and the Vatican over the war in Iran took another twist on Wednesday when Pope Leo shared a message of peace and healing after the latest angry broadside from the White House. On Tuesday, JD Vance capped several days of insults by insinuating the pontiff was not being truthful in matters of theology, and did not understand the concept of war. “How can you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword?” the vice-president said during a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia, at which he was heckled by anti-war protesters. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps? It’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology … you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.” A day earlier, Vance, a Catholic convert, advised the US-born Pope Leo XIV “to stick to matters of morality” after an earlier post on X in which Leo denounced the US-Israel war in Iran. “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a d