Trump Claims He Knows the Bible Better Than Pope Leo XIV

Donald Trump took to social media Saturday, amplifying a Baptist pastor's audacious claim that he possesses a deeper understanding of the Bible than Pope Leo XIV. This comes just days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio's diplomatic rendezvous with the pontiff aimed at easing rising tensions between the U.S. and the Vatican. (Check out the clip below.)

“The great irony is it looks like President Trump has a better understanding of what the Bible teaches about the role of government than the pope has,” declared the evangelical leader in a Fox News segment that Trump shared on Truth Social. “And I’m glad the president hasn’t backed down at all.”

Pastor Robert Jeffress, a staunch Trump ally who has labeled non-supportive evangelicals as “spineless morons,” kicked off his Fox News appearance by acknowledging the first U.S.-born pope as a “good man” with “sincere faith,” but then quickly added an asterisk.

“But he is sincerely wrong when it comes to Iran,” Jeffress stated, referencing the pope’s critiques of the Iran war, which have fueled Trump's recent barbs directed at the pontiff.

Jeffress, who once controversially claimed that Roman Catholicism is influenced by Satan, asserted that the pope “ought to know” that “the role of the church is to point people to faith in Jesus Christ but the role of government is to protect citizens from evildoers, according to Romans 13.”

In 2017, Jeffress cited this same New Testament chapter to argue on Fox News that the Bible permits Trump to use “force to topple evil,” suggesting it grants him authority to execute an assassination or initiate a war with North Korea.

He recounted a White House meeting where Trump and various faith leaders convened after the president ordered strikes on Iran, claiming Trump expressed he had “no choice” but to take military action.

“I thanked him then for having the courage to fulfill his God-given responsibility to protect our nation,” Jeffress said, reinforcing his support for Trump's aggressive stance.

Meanwhile, Rubio's Vatican meeting was overshadowed by Trump's ongoing feud with Pope Leo over criticisms regarding the Iran war, where Trump accused the pontiff of wanting Iran to possess nuclear weapons.

Rubio described the closed-door meeting as “productive” and “very cordial.” When pressed on whether he would advise Trump to tone down his attacks, Rubio stated that the president “will always speak clearly about how he feels about the U.S. and U.S. policy.”