President Donald Trump's attack on Pope Leo was "unacceptable," Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday, joining forces with politicians of all colors in springing to the pontiff's defense.

The statement represented an extremely rare public rebuke of Trump from Meloni, who has cultivated particularly close ties with the U.S. president, underscoring widespread anger in Italy over his broadside on Pope Leo.

Trump set off the furore by calling Leo "terrible" in a Truth Social post on Sunday. He subsequently posted an AI image depicting himself as a Jesus-like figure, sparking further outrage among Christians who saw the image as blasphemous.

Pope Leo, leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, swiftly responded, telling reporters he had "no fear" of the Trump administration and promising to continue speaking out against the U.S.-led war with Iran and in defense of migrants.

Meloni issued an initial statement backing Leo as he flew off on an ambitious four-nation visit to Africa, but made no specific mention of Trump's broadside.

Opposition politicians accused her of lacking the courage to directly challenge Trump, prompting her to issue a second statement later in the day to clarify her position.

"I find President Trump's words towards the Holy Father unacceptable. The Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, and it is right and normal for him to call for peace and to condemn every form of war," she said.

Meloni was the only European leader to attend Trump's inauguration in 2025 and she had hoped their friendship would boost her standing at home and abroad.

However, Trump risks becoming a liability, with 66% of Italians having a negative view of the U.S. leader. Pollsters say Meloni's ties to the White House might have been a factor in her defeat last month in a referendum on judicial reform.

Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who has also in the past associated himself closely with Trump, also distanced himself from the U.S. leader on Monday, highlighting how Europe's far-right is trying to draw back from the MAGA orbit.

"Pope Leo is a spiritual leader for billions of Catholics, but beyond that, if there is one person striving for peace, it is Pope Leo, and so attacking him does not seem either wise or helpful," he said in a statement.

The Pope is the bishop of Rome and spiritual leader to millions of Italian Catholics, making politicians of all stripes wary about taking him on.

"It has been centuries since such a blatant act of aggression against the Roman pontiff was seen," said former center-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, adding that it was vital for Catholics and non-believers alike to defend Leo.

"He is, after all, a 'builder of bridges,' unlike Trump, a destroyer of relationships and of civilisation. The only advantage is this: Trumps come and go, popes remain," he said.

The comment echoed an Italian saying, "chi mangia papa crepa" which roughly means, "whoever tries to devour the pope dies" - a proverb born of centuries of tension between successive papacies and temporal rulers.

"Trump has made the mistake of the century, because 'chi mangia papa crepa' has been borne out repeatedly," said church historian Alberto Melloni, pointing to Italy's royal family, the House of Savoy, which clashed repeatedly with the Vatican during the 19th century only to be swept away while the papacy lived on.

Antonio Spadaro, a Roman Catholic priest and undersecretary of the Vatican's Dicastery for Culture and Education, said Trump's attack revealed his own weakness.

"If Leo were irrelevant, he would not merit any comment. Instead, he is invoked, named, opposed - a sign that his words matter," Spadaro wrote on X. "This is where the Church's moral force emerges. Not as a counter-power, but as a space in which power is judged by a standard it does not control."