Meloni said in a statement on Monday that she finds Trump’s comments on the pope “unacceptable.”
Trump called the pope “weak” on the issues of crime and nuclear weapons in a social media post on Sunday. The pontiff has been a vocal critic of Trump’s approach toward Iran.
Meloni said the pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal that he should call for peace and condemn all forms of war.
Reuters news agency reported that her statement “represented an extremely rare public rebuke of Trump from Meloni, who has cultivated particularly close ties with the US president.”
Speaking to reporters during a flight to Algeria, the pope said he has “no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel.”
The pope added that he continues to “speak strongly against war, seeking to promote peace, dialogue, and multilateralism among states to find solutions to problems.”
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