The President of Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, stated that the unprovoked attacks against Pope Leo XIV are unacceptable, reacting to provocations made by U.S. Head of State Donald Trump against the Catholic Church.
“We stand with Pope Leo XIV, the world’s most respected leader,” wrote the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on his Facebook page this Tuesday. “Gratuitous attacks against Pope Leo XIV and the misrepresentation of his position are unacceptable. The Pope never stated that the possession of nuclear weapons is acceptable. Iran does not possess nuclear weapons. Israel does,” he added.
The President of the United States had claimed that the Pope is “terrible at foreign policy,” alluding to Leo XIV’s criticisms regarding Iran and Venezuela, and urged him to “stop pandering to the radical left.”
At the heart of the dispute was a speech delivered by the Supreme Pontiff at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Saturday. In it, Leo XIV denounced warmongers and “displays of force,” in one of his most vehement criticisms to date regarding the armed conflicts plaguing the world.
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“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s okay for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that the United States attacked Venezuela (…). And I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States when I am doing exactly what I was elected to do,” declared Donald Trump.
Leo XIV responded that he does not fear the U.S. administration and reiterated his commitment to “raising his voice to build peace.”
In Timor-Leste, 98% of the approximately 1.3 million inhabitants are Catholic.
