(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 6 - Pope Leo XIV said Tuesday that people are free to criticise him but the flak should be based on the truth after President Donald Trump launched a new attack on him, saying his opposition to the United States and Israel's war against Iran was putting Catholics in danger.

An image purporting to show Donald Trump calling for the top US prosecutor to "investigate the Catholic Church" amid his row with Pope Leo XIV is spreading across platforms, but the supposed post is fake.

The resonance of the pontiff-versus-president imbroglio reveals a hunger for moral authority at a time that feels deeply disoriented and spiritually thin.

The first American-born pope has been caught in the president's crosshairs for his criticism of war. But parishioners largely back the pontiff.

Some Catholic Trump supporters will stick with him no matter what he does or says. He could declare himself the fourth person of the Blessed Trinity and they would smile. But other Catholics, like Americans generally,

The claim circulated in the form of a screenshot purportedly showing a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump.

NCR readers respond to stories about President Donald Trump's attack on Pope Leo XIV, the unlikeliness of a Catholic revival and the role of bishops in politics.