Catholic Church and U.S. Politics

Pope Leo XIV said his "handful of tyrants" remark was not aimed at President Donald Trump. He made the clarification while flying to Angola, Reuters reported. The pope said the Africa speech was prepared two weeks earlier, before Trump's recent comments about him. He added it was not in his interest to be seen debating the U.S. president and that he would continue preaching peace. The clarification came after weeks of public sparring, including Truth Social posts from Trump calling Leo "terrible" on foreign policy. Trump also accused the pope of effectively accepting a nuclear-armed Iran and briefly posted an AI-generated image that he later deleted.