The Archbishop of Canterbury will not be making a public statement on the dispute between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV, according to a statement given to Anglican.Ink on April 14 by the archbishop’s press officer: “Archbishop Sarah will not be offering a public statement on this issue.”
That means Canterbury is not merely waiting to respond; it has already chosen not to comment publicly on Trump’s Truth Social attack on the pope, the Pope’s April 11 peace vigil in Rome, or Leo’s remarks on Monday as he departed for Africa for an 11-day visit. Pope Leo told reporters aboard the papal plane, “I do not see my role as that of a politician. I am not a politician, and I do not want to enter into a debate with him.”
The Archbishop’s official news page still lists Archbishop Mullally’s March 26 letter to Pope Leo XIV as her most recent communication with the Vatican. In that letter, she welcomed the shared witness of peace and dialogue between Canterbury and Rome. No follow-up statement has been issued in response to the Trump-Pope exchange, even as the row has moved quickly through the Easter season.
That public silence places Canterbury in contrast with other Anglican voices. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town has already weighed in on social media, saying he aligns himself with Pope Leo’s stance and praising the pope for challenging “the kingdoms of this world” with a vision for God’s kingdom. Archbishop Makgoba also described the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran as something that “can in no way be regarded as a just war,” and condemned the glorification of war in the name of faith.
The silence also stands against the tone of Anglican Consultative Council Secretary General Bishop Anthony Poggo’s April 1 Easter message, which explicitly commended the March exchange of letters between Mullally and Leo as a sign of Christian fraternity amid global division. Against that backdrop, Canterbury’s refusal to comment now reads not as an interim pause but as a deliberate decision.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is scheduled to visit Pope Leo in Rome from April 25–28, a meeting arranged before the latest controversy erupted. With 11 days to go, Canterbury has made its position clear: there will be no public statement on the Trump-Pope dispute before the Rome visit, and no attempt to enter the controversy from Lambeth Palace.