President Donald Trump never lets a political opportunity go to waste.
Trump had a few words about his feud with Pope Leo.
And what the Pope had to buckle up after Trump took the gloves off after seeing one startling photo.
Trump Calls Out the Mayor Nobody in Chicago Actually Likes
Chiacgo Mayor Eric Johnson traveled to the Vatican recently for a private audience with Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff who has been at odds with the Trump administration over the Iran conflict and immigration enforcement. Johnson posted photos of the meeting on X, calling it “one of the most awe-inspiring and humbling experiences of my life” and describing Pope Leo as “a magnificent human.”
Trump fired back on Truth Social with a message that was short, blunt, and impossible to ignore.
“Someone should explain to the Pope that the Mayor of Chicago is useless, and that Iran cannot have a Nuclear Weapon!” Trump wrote, signing the post “President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
That’s the kind of two-for-one that only Trump can pull off. He torched Johnson and reminded the world of his Iran policy in a single sentence.
Johnson, for his part, did not hold back at his press conference at the American University of Rome. He called Trump “a brutal, horrific, and ignorant tyrant that is currently occupying the White House” and said “the impact of his failures on our global economy is quite severe.” He also told reporters the two men discussed ICE raids in Chicago, saying Pope Leo “wanted to know how ICE impacted our city and whether there were still examples of ICE raids happening.”
Johnson also presented the pope with a formal letter inviting him to visit Chicago in 2027 to celebrate Mass at Grant Park, following in the footsteps of Pope John Paul II, who drew a crowd of approximately 1.5 million there in October 1979.
A Fox News Contributor Saw Exactly What Johnson Was Doing
Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo appeared on Fox & Friends and did not mince words about what Johnson pulled off in Rome.
Arroyo said Johnson was attempting to “recruit the Pope” and warned Vatican officials to be more careful about which politicians they let through the door. “I think the pope and his advisers may have gone, and I would urge them to be very careful when they allow politicians, particularly local politicians, to come into the Vatican this way because they’re misusing his hospitality,” Arroyo said.
And then Arroyo got to the point that Johnson really does not want anyone talking about. “When the mayor says he told the pope that Chicago is strong and transforming. It’s transforming, Ainsley, as you well know, into Gotham City. There were 7,000 people shot in the last three years in Chicago. And it’s a killing field every weekend.”
That is a jaw-dropping number. Seven thousand people shot. And the mayor of that city flew to Rome to lecture the pope about ICE.
The Numbers Johnson Does Not Want You to See
Johnson brought a gift chest full of Chicago goodies to the Vatican, including local giardiniera, a Chicago Cubs jersey, a “Resisting tyrants since pharaoh” kippah, and a hat that reads “Immigrants Make America Greater.” He also tucked in letters from migrants detained by ICE.
But what Johnson did not bring to Rome was any honest accounting of his tenure as mayor. A University of Chicago poll found that only 26% of residents approve of the way Johnson handles his job, while 58% disapprove. A separate poll from M3 Strategies put his approval rating at just 6.6 percent, one of the worst showings for any major political figure in recent American history. Even 80% of respondents in that poll rated him “unfavorable.”
The city Johnson runs faces a staggering fiscal mess. Chicago projected a $1.15 billion budget shortfall for 2026, its largest gap since the height of the COVID pandemic. Johnson’s own budget team warned the city risked not being able to pay its January bills. His proposed corporate head tax to plug the hole was rejected by the City Council, and the budget that eventually passed was one Johnson himself called “morally bankrupt.”
Crime is out of control, with the city recording 130 murders through the first four months of 2026, up from 120 during the same period in 2025.
And yet Johnson stood before reporters in Rome and declared, “Chicago is strong and transforming.”
The Bigger Picture Here
Trump and Pope Leo have been clashing for weeks. Earlier this month, Trump posted on Truth Social, calling the pontiff “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” and telling him to “get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.” The pope responded by saying he had “no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly.”
Johnson traveled to Rome explicitly to align himself with that conflict. Before the trip, he told supporters at a send-off event that he and the pope share “the pulpit and the pen” to push back against what he called Trump’s “godforsaken” policies.
But there is something worth noting about the political math here. Johnson is arguably the least popular mayor of any major American city. His city is drowning in debt. His own City Council revolted against his budget. And his approval among Black Chicagoans, the core of his political base, stands at just 38 percent.
Flying to Rome to get a picture with the pope does not fix a $1.15 billion deficit. It does not answer for 7,000 shooting victims over three years. And it does not change the fact that Trump called him useless in front of the entire world, and a lot of Chicagoans are quietly nodding along.
Johnson told reporters the pope was “very gracious and encouraging” about his executive orders protecting illegal aliens from ICE. He said he “picked up on the fact that he was blessed by our presence today.”
Trump picked up on something too. And he put it in 19 words.
Sources: Mediaite, Raw Story, Chicago Sun-Times, EWTN News, Fox News, CBS News, Newsweek, ABC7 Chicago, Chicago Contrarian, WTTW Chicago, Illinois Policy Institute