Earlier this year, Pope Francis passed away, the day after he had an audience with Vice President JD Vance. Soon after, Pope Francis was succeeded by the first American pope, who took the name Pope Leo XIV.
In a new interview, the pontiff has shared what he thinks of the leaders of his home country.
The interview, his first at length with an English-language publication since his election, came with the Catholic news publication the Crux.
The pope was asked whether he had a better shot of “engaging with” President Donald Trump, as a fellow American. Pope Leo has not met with the president yet.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
“Not necessarily. I think that it would be much more appropriate for the leadership in the Church within the United States to engage him, quite seriously. I would say that about any government. Again, I have met a lot of world leaders, and there are significant issues that can be raised, but it would be impossible for the pope to get involved in individual countries around the world, to say, ‘this is what you should be doing, that’s what you should be thinking.'”
The pope also discussed his brother, a vocal supporter of Trump.
Pope Leo speaks to Crux’s Elise Ann Allen about Gaza, China, and the U.S.https://t.co/HFMPRb71PP
— Elise Ann Allen (@eliseannallen) September 18, 2025
“President Trump made a statement last week about [how] he didn’t have it on his agenda to want to meet me, and then he said, ‘but his brother’s a nice guy’, and that’s fine. One of my brothers has met him and has been very outspoken about his political viewpoints. But if or when there were specific issues that, if it were possible to engage with him, I would have no problem doing so. I think there are others who are doing that role fine, and he makes his choices, who he listens to and who he doesn’t listen to. But to continue to raise some of the issues, especially about questions of human dignity, of promoting peace in the world, which he at times has made clear he wants to do, in those efforts I would want to support him.”
Per a Yahoo News writeup of the interview, “the pope also recalled a conversation he had with Vice President JD Vance, in which he said he spoke to the Republican leader about the importance of human dignity. Vance, the first converted Catholic to serve as vice president, met privately with the new pope – alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their wives – less than two weeks after Leo’s selection.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
