President Donald Trump is on the verge of destroying his relationship with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, who merely expressed disagreement at Trump’s repeated attacks on Pope Leo XIV. “I find President Trump’s words toward the Holy Father unacceptable,” Meloni said on April 14. She had been one of Trump’s closest allies in Europe, and was the only European head of government to attend Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
Trump said the next day that he was “shocked” by Meloni’s rebuke: “Do Italians like the fact that your prime minister isn’t giving us any help to get oil? Do people like her? I can’t imagine. I’m shocked by her. I thought she was brave, but I was wrong,” he said. “She is the one who is unacceptable,” he went on, “Because she doesn’t care if Iran has a nuclear weapon and would blow up Italy in two minutes if she had the chance.”
When asked if the U.S. still has the same relationship with Italy during an interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on April 15, Trump replied: “No. She’s been negative. Anybody that turned us down for helping with this Iran situation, we do not have the same relationship.”
Later on April 15, in remarks to reporters, Meloni reiterated her opinion, saying that Trump’s comments were “unacceptable.” “I expressed my solidarity with Pope Leo. I will tell you more: I would not feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders do as they are told by politicians, not in this part of the world, so I disagreed and said so.”
