House Speaker Mike Johnson was questioned about President Donald Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo and suggested that the pope might be putting himself in a tough spot with his remarks.
Johnson, who sees himself as a committed Christian, was asked by a reporter about the disagreement outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.
He said he wasn’t in the habit of criticizing religious leaders but defended Trump’s position.
“A religious leader or the pope can say anything they want, but if they go into political matters, they should be ready for some political reaction,” Johnson said.
“I think the pope has experienced some of that.”
This comes after Trump’s harsh comments about Pope Leo XIV drew strong criticism from Catholics in the U.S. and around the world.
Trump, who is 79, harshly criticized the pope on Sunday, accusing him of being “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy,” and said he should “get his act together as Pope.”
His long attack came after the pope criticized the war in Iran at a Saturday service and said, without naming Trump directly, “Enough of war!”
In response to Trump’s attack, Pope Leo said he wasn’t afraid of the Trump administration.
Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, also reacted this week, saying he thought it’s “very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
In his own response on Tuesday, Johnson continued to support Trump, who criticized Pope Leo again in another post that day.
Johnson said he was surprised by what he thought the pope said, paraphrasing it as, “something about ‘those who engage in war, Jesus doesn’t hear their prayers’ or something.”
What the pope actually said during his mass was that “Jesus is the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.
He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
But Johnson didn’t stop there.
He lectured the top Catholic leader on Christian theology.
“It is a well-established part of Christian theology.
There’s something called the ‘just war doctrine,’” Johnson said.
“There’s a time for every purpose under heaven,” Johnson added.
The theory, or doctrine, is an ethical guide for military actions, rooted in Catholic teaching.
Johnson argued that what Trump and Vance were saying reflected their understanding of the high stakes and serious situation the country faces, and that the nation, once the biggest supporter of terrorism, now has that ability taken away.
He suggested that millions of innocent people could “keep their lives and not be killed by terrorists.”
As he spoke, GOP lawmakers around him applauded.
Johnson ended by saying he didn’t want to get into a theological debate with the people.
When asked about the president’s recent threats to destroy the civilization of Iran, a country with more than 90 million people, Johnson had no comment.
That same day Johnson spoke about the “just war doctrine,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement explaining the theory and warned that the pope wasn’t just giving his personal opinions when he spoke.
“A constant part of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed,’” they said in a statement. “
That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.'”
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