Pope Leo XIV: 'I'm an American who happened to become pope'

Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, said he does not define himself as an American, emphasizing his mission as a shepherd to the universal church.

In an interview with NBC News released Thursday, the pope said at a musical prayer event held Wednesday at Castel Gandolfo near Rome that he thinks of himself as "an American who happened to become pope." The interview was his first televised sit-down with an American broadcaster since his election to the papacy.

"That's not to diminish what it means to be an American," Leo XIV said. "I love America very much, but as a shepherd of the church, I have a mission to speak to the entire world."

Asked what he loves about the United States, the pope said "so many things," adding that he cherishes "the spirit of freedom and opportunity, the spirit that has invited people from all over the world, generation after generation, to become part of America." He added that his own grandparents were immigrants and that on his mother's side there were people who had been enslaved.

On the question of a visit to the United States, he said he has no plans yet but hopes to go soon.

Leo XIV has been a vocal critic of the war since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in February. His biblically grounded messages did not name specific individuals, but they were widely interpreted as directed at the American leadership that ordered the strikes, putting him at odds with President Donald Trump.

Trump posted on Truth Social in April criticizing the pope, calling him "weak on crime" and "terrible on foreign policy."