Italian premier calls Trump's remarks against pope 'unacceptable'

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Monday called US President Donald Trump's remarks against Pope Leo XIV "unacceptable."

"I find President Trump’s words regarding the Holy Father to be unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal that he should call for peace and condemn all forms of war," Meloni said in a statement issued by her office.

Meloni's statement came after Trump launched a sweeping attack against the pope on Sunday.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump said on his Truth Social media platform, also claiming the Catholic Church chose him to be pope last May in order to manage ties with his administration. Leo is the first American-born pope.

“I don’t think he’s doing a very good job,” Trump later told reporters about why he attacked the pope.

"I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela," he also wrote online.

"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician," Trump wrote, claiming that the pope's current trajectory "is hurting the Catholic Church."