Italy rallies round pope as Trump attack tests ties with Meloni

ROME: Italian political and church figures rallied behind Pope Leo on Monday (Apr 13) after Donald Trump attacked the pontiff, leaving Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to balance Italy's close ties to the Vatican and her own alliance with the US president.

Trump set off the furore by calling Leo "terrible", drawing a rare, direct response from the pope, who said he had "no fear" of the US administration and would continue speaking out against the US-led war on Iran and in defence of migrants.

Meloni, who has cultivated close relations with Trump in recent years, issued a statement backing Leo as he flew off on an ambitious four-nation visit to Africa, but made no direct mention of the US president's broadside.

"May the Holy Father's ministry help foster the resolution of conflicts and the return of peace, both within nations and among them," she said, making clear her support for the pope without openly criticising the US president.

THE DANGER OF GOING AFTER POPES

The omission was leapt on by political opponents, who sense that Meloni's closeness to Trump is becoming an electoral handicap in a country where 66 per cent of people have a negative view of the US leader, tied to his aggressive foreign policy.

"As a Catholic, I am outraged by a prime minister who invokes Christian values but cannot find the strength and courage to condemn Trump's unacceptable blasphemy against the pope and the Catholic world," said Angelo Bonelli, a prominent figure in the left-wing AVS party, who referenced a later post by Trump showing an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who has also in the past associated himself with Trump, was more explicit in his criticism of the US leader, highlighting how Europe's far-right is trying to draw back from the MAGA orbit.

"Pope Leo is a spiritual leader for billions of Catholics, but beyond that, if there is one person striving for peace, it is Pope Leo, and so attacking him does not seem either wise or helpful," he said in a statement.

The pope is the bishop of Rome and spiritual leader to millions of Italian Catholics, making politicians of all stripes extremely wary about taking him on.

"It has been centuries since such a blatant act of aggression against the Roman Pontiff was seen," said former centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, adding that it was vital for Catholics and non-believers alike to defend Leo.

"He is, after all, a 'builder of bridges,' unlike Trump, a destroyer of relationships and of civilisation. The only advantage is this: Trumps come and go, popes remain," he said.

The comment echoed an Italian saying "chi mangia papa crepa" which roughly means, "whoever tries to devour the pope dies" - a proverb born of centuries of tension between successive papacies and temporal rulers.

"Trump has made the mistake of the century, because 'chi mangia papa crepa' has been borne out repeatedly," said church historian Alberto Melloni, pointing to Italy's royal family, the House of Savoy, which clashed repeatedly with the Vatican only to be swept away while the papacy lived on.

Antonio Spadaro, a Roman Catholic priest and undersecretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education, said Trump's attack revealed his own weakness.

"If Leo were irrelevant, he would not merit any comment. Instead, he is invoked, named, opposed - a sign that his words matter," Spadaro wrote on X. "This is where the Church's moral force emerges. Not as a counter-power, but as a space in which power is judged by a standard it does not control."