Archbishop George Leo Thomas of Las Vegas issued a strong public defense of Pope Leo XIV late Sunday, praising the first U.S.-born pontiff for confronting President Donald Trump amid escalating tensions over the U.S.-Israel military campaign against Iran.
In his statement, Thomas expressed gratitude “to God for sending us Pope Leo XIV, who is willing to speak truth to power just when we need him the most.” He lauded the Pope for advocating “dialogue over diatribe, prayer over politics, and diplomacy above destruction,” and dismissed Trump’s criticism as “ad hominem attacks and sophomoric rhetoric.”
Thomas added that the Pope would remain “unfazed” by such remarks.
The feud stems from Pope Leo XIV’s repeated public condemnations of the Iran conflict. On Friday, the Pope posted on X: “God does not bless any conflict and that military action doesn’t create space for freedom.”
He wrote, “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
Earlier, he labeled Trump’s threat that an entire Iranian “civilization will cease to exist” as “truly unacceptable,” calling instead for dialogue and an “off-ramp” to end the violence.
Trump responded sharply on Truth Social on Sunday, calling the Pope “WEAK on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.” Trump questioned why he would want a pope who criticizes the U.S. president, “because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do.”
Thomas and Pope Leo XIV have been vocal against U.S. and Israeli military actions in Iran; both have maintained a silence on the systematic slaughter of Christians by Islamist militants in Nigeria and other hotspots, as well as the Iranian regime’s brutal crackdowns on its own population.
In Nigeria, Islamist groups, including Boko Haram, ISWAP, and radicalized Fulani militants, have carried out targeted attacks on Christian communities in the north and Middle Belt. Reports document over 7,000 Christians killed in the first 220 days of 2025 alone, an average of roughly 30–32 per day, with the pattern of massacres, church burnings, and abductions continuing into 2026.
In the first 96 days of 2026, monitors recorded at least 1,400 additional Christian deaths and 1,800 abductions. Similar targeted violence against Christians persists in Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Thomas has issued no statements condemning these ongoing atrocities against Christians, despite the Vatican’s broader calls for peace.
Likewise, there has been no equivalent outrage from the Las Vegas archbishop or the Pope regarding the Iranian regime’s massacre of its own citizens. During the 2025–2026 protests and crackdowns, the death toll was 40,000, including thousands of civilians and protesters executed or gunned down by security forces. Tens of thousands more have reportedly been injured or arrested.
Critics argue this selective focus, fiery rhetoric aimed at American power, and Trump’s blunt style, paired with relative quiet on jihadist genocidal campaigns against Christians and the Iranian theocracy’s body count, reveals a pattern of performative peacemaking that is inconsistent with the church hierarchy’s moral teaching.
The Old Blog in the Desert 
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