Bishop Barron calls the media that the Trump-Pope Leo XIV story is nonsense

Bishop Robert Barron took to X on Monday to call out the media for spreading what he described as an “absurd” narrative of a “battle” between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over disagreements related to Iran.

“There is a way beyond the senseless and deeply divisive ‘war’ between the President and the Pope, created by the media,” Barron said Monday. send to X. “And it is shown in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 2309 as accurate. After setting out the various criteria for determining a just war—the measure, the final method, the declaration of competent authority, the reasonable hope of success, etc.—The Catechism indicates that ‘the evaluation of these conditions of moral legitimacy is for the decision of those laymen who are responsible for good judgment.

Barron added, “The idea that just war principles are effective, to use a technical term, as heuristic devices, designed to guide the practical decision-making of those public authorities who must judge matters of war and peace.”

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He continued, saying that it is not the duty of the Church to decide whether war is right.

“Therefore, the role of the Church is to call for peace and to urge that any conflict be strictly restrained by the moral barriers of the war process,” said Barron. “But it is not the duty of the Church to assess whether a certain war is just or unjust. That assessment belongs to the public authorities, who, one would think, have the necessary knowledge of the existing conditions.”

He went on to pose a series of questions that should be considered, including, “Is the war in question really the final solution? Is there really a balance between the good to be achieved and the destruction caused by war? Are combatants and non-combatants properly separated in the conduct of the conflict? Do the rebels have the right objective? Is there a reasonable hope of success? In the Church, but the answer is for the authorities.”

Last Sunday, Trump accused Pope Leo XIV of being “bad” on foreign policy after the Pope declared a US-Israeli war against Iran.

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A separate photo shows Pope Leo XIV, left, and President Donald Trump, right, amid a public debate over immigration policy and the conflict involving Iran. (Simone Risoluti – Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images; Salwan Georges/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“He talks about the ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but he doesn’t talk about FEAR The Catholic Churchand all other Christian Organizations, which they had during the time of COVID when they arrested priests, pastors, and all other people, by holding Church services, even when they went outside, and were ten and twenty meters apart,” wrote Trump in the book Truth Social.

“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.”

On Saturday, Pope Leo said his remark that “the world is being destroyed by a few dictators” was not directed at Trump.

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President Donald Trump. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Speaking on the plane to Angola for his 10 days African travelPope Leo XIV said the media coverage was “not accurate in all its aspects” and that his speech “was prepared two weeks ago, before the president commented on me and the message of peace that I promote,” according to Reuters.

Last week, Barron’s said Trump owed Pope Leo an apology after Trump posted his negative message about Leo in Truth Social.

“The statements made by President Trump on Truth Social about the Pope were completely inappropriate and disrespectful,” Barron said in an X post. “They do not participate in constructive debate at all. It is the Pope’s prerogative to define Catholic doctrine and principles governing the moral life. As to the definitive application of those principles, people of good heart can agree and disagree.”

Barron ends his Monday X column by insisting that popes are not politicians.

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Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer at the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on March 1, 2026. The pope warned that the escalation of violence in the Middle East risks becoming an “irreparable abyss.” (Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters)

“The Pope has said many times that he is not a politician and that his role is not to determine the foreign policy of any nation,” said Barron. “But he just said clearly that he will continue to talk about peace and moral restraint. In making both of these claims, he is working entirely within the framework of section 2309 of the Catechism. If we understand that the Pope and the President have qualitatively different roles to play in determining moral action regarding war, we can, I hope, get out of the narperative. President.'”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.