US President Donald Trump says he will not apologise for remarks insulting Pope Leo XIV, citing the pontiff’s vocal opposition against the Iran war.

“No, I don’t because Pope Leo said things that are wrong,” Trump says about whether he needs to apologise to the head of the Catholic Church. “He was very much against what I’m doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran.

“Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result, you’d have hundreds of millions of people dead, and it’s not going to happen,” he adds.