Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the Vatican taking aim at the White House, a 10-day cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, and Russia’s deadliest attack on Ukraine this year.

American President vs. American Pope

Pope Leo XIV may be the Vatican’s first American leader, but he is certainly no friend of the White House. Since assuming the papacy last May, the Chicago native has maintained a relatively low global profile. However, the eruption of war in Iran has effectively thrown that playbook out the window, with Leo now taking aim at the Trump administration for its conduct in (and rhetoric surrounding) the Middle East.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the Vatican taking aim at the White House, a 10-day cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon, and Russia’s deadliest attack on Ukraine this year.

American President vs. American Pope

Pope Leo XIV (center) holds a white dove before releasing it after he met with the Cameroonian community of Bamenda on April 16.Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

Pope Leo XIV may be the Vatican’s first American leader, but he is certainly no friend of the White House. Since assuming the papacy last May, the Chicago native has maintained a relatively low global profile. However, the eruption of war in Iran has effectively thrown that playbook out the window, with Leo now taking aim at the Trump administration for its conduct in (and rhetoric surrounding) the Middle East.

“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” Leo said during a speech in Cameroon on Thursday, in what many observers interpreted as a thinly veiled reference to U.S. President Donald Trump. “They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education, and restoration ​are nowhere to be found.”

The United States is estimated to have already spent at least $28 billion on the Iran war before the start of the cease-fire. According to an NBC News investigation published last week, that amount could have funded a year of child care for 2 million minors or paid rent for 1.2 million people.

Such criticism could be particularly damning for the White House, as several prominent figures in the Trump administration have used their positions to promote Christian nationalist beliefs or used Christian ideology to defend the administration’s actions, including immigration and overseas military operations.

Just last week,........

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