In response to a personal attack by President Donald Trump the night before, Pope Leo told journalists on the papal plane to Algeria:
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what… pic.twitter.com/zV6FuacGSM
— Courtney Mares (@catholicourtney) April 13, 2026
I'm sure the pope will be delighted by Trump posturing himself as Jesus.
Trump denounces Pope Leo again for stance on Iran war: “He’s wrong”
President Donald Trump again denounced Pope Leo XIV for his position against the war in Iran.
Asked if the president owes Pope Leo an apology after he tore into the pope on Sunday evening, Trump said, “No, I don’t, because 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.”
Trump said the pope would “not be happy with the end result” if Iran were able to gain nuclear capability. “You have hundreds of millions of people dead, and it’s not going to happen.”
He also accused the pope of being “very weak on crime and other things. So I’m not, I mean, he went public. I’m just responding to Pope Leo.”
Millions of people will die from the blockade of the Straight of Hormuz...
Extended closure of Strait of Hormuz threatens a global food crisis, warns UN body
A global food crisis could develop if normal traffic doesn’t resume through the Strait of Hormuz soon, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today.
Substantial proportions of the world’s supply of products required for farming – including oil, natural gas, urea and fertilizers – are currently choked off from global markets as vessels cannot safely pass through the crucial waterway due to the war in the Middle East.
He warned the “clock is ticking” to avoid this situation ballooning into a global crisis which could rival that caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Everything is linked to the crop calendar,” he said. If farmers don’t have all the resources they need for planting, that could cause lower yields, meaning less food in the future, he warned. In addition, if countries start restricting energy or fertilizer exports that will add to the problem, he said.
Any squeeze on global food supply will have an outsized effect on lower-income and smaller countries, added David Laborde, director of the Agrifood Economics and Policy Division at the FAO.
