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Trump takes aim at Pope Leo XIV meeting with 'useless' Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson at Vatican
By Lindsay Kornick
Published May 31, 2026
President Donald Trump called out Pope Leo XIV for meeting with the "useless" Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson over the weekend.
"Someone should explain to the Pope that the Mayor of Chicago is useless, and that Iran cannot have a Nuclear Weapon!" Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday.
Trump's post came after photos emerged of Johnson meeting with the pope, who was born and raised in Chicago, last week at the Vatican.
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Pope Leo XIV shakes hand with Chicago's Democratic mayor Brandon Johnson in The Vatican. May 28, 2026. (Fox32 Chicago via Vatican News)
"It was an honor to share time with a magnificent human, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, yesterday," Johnson wrote on X Friday.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, the mayor's office said, "Chicagoans have had more than enough of Trump's blasphemous war in Iran. Someone should explain to the president that he's only making it harder for working families to make ends meet."
Fox News Digital also reached out to the Vatican for comment.
Johnson led a Chicago delegation that included George Floyd family lawyer Antonio Romanucci on a trip Thursday to the Vatican. During their meeting, Johnson presented an array of apparel from Chicago, including a Chicago Cubs hat.
Ahead of his visit, Johnson told the Chicago Sun-Times that he planned to ask Pope Leo to use his pulpit "to support reparations for local descendants of African American slaves."
President Donald Trump criticized Pope Leo XIV for meeting with the "useless" Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. (Getty Images)
"That’s an important conversation…Absolutely… Yes. I want to be very clear about that," Johnson said.
Trump's comment also came after months of tension between the president and the pontiff over Pope Leo's criticism of the administration's hard-line immigration policies and foreign policy.
"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, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month.
He added, "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. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church."
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President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XVI have disagreed publicly over the administration's foreign policies. (Getty Images)
Pope Leo responded previously by saying that he has "no fear of the Trump administration" and that his calls for peace should not be seen as a political attack.
"The things that I say are certainly not meant as attacks on anyone," the pope said. "I don't think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing. I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems."
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