The relationship between Trump and Meloni was typified by warm handshakes and even warmer words until the US leader did something considered by most Italians to be unthinkable: he criticised the pope, Euronews reports.
US President Donald Trump has turned on Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, calling her "unacceptable" and claiming she lacks "courage" to back the US intervention in Iran after she condemned his attacks on Pope Leo XIV.
The unexpected public rift between the two leaders, who cultivated one of the closest transatlantic relationships over the past year, erupted after Trump criticised the pontiff for his anti-war stance on Iran.
"I thought she had courage, but I was wrong," Trump told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Tuesday.
Trump previously called Meloni "one of the real leaders of the world" and "full of energy, fantastic", while Meloni said she was able to speak to him "frankly even when we disagree".
It all seemed to be going so well until Trump did something that, for many Italians, is regarded as sacrilege: he lambasted none other than the Holy Father.
Trump said he did not think Pope Leo XIV was "doing a very good job" because he was "weak on crime" and suggested the pontiff should "stop catering to the radical left," also stating, "We don't like a pope who says it's OK to have a nuclear weapon."
