Pope Leo to Trump: Hands Off Cuba, Choose Dialogue Over Invasion

After ignoring Leo’s pleas on Venezuela, Trump is once again rattling sabers — this time at Cuba. In a tense standoff over oil and sovereignty, the first American pope is choosing the Cuban people.

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At St. Peter’s Square this weekend, Pope Leo XIV delivered a grave appeal that rang out across the world.

I have received the greatly troubling news regarding an increase in tensions between Cuba and the United States of America, two neighboring countries,” he said.

“I echo the message of the Cuban bishops, inviting all responsible parties to promote a sincere and effective dialogue, in order to avoid violence and every action that could increase the suffering of the dear Cuban people.”

The pope’s voice was firm, his concern unmistakable. It was aimed squarely at Washington, where President Donald Trump’s latest moves have pushed the long-embattled island of Cuba to the edge of a new crisis.

Just days earlier, Trump signed an order slapping tariffs on any nation that dares send oil to Cuba, effectively tightening a noose around Cuba’s fuel supply.

He justifies this as defending America from Havana’s “malign” influence, but on the ground in Cuba it’s the poor and powerless who would bear the cost. Leo XIV — himself a son of the Americas — knows this, and he is raising a moral red flag before it’s too late.

Cubans line up for gasoline in Havana as U.S. oil sanctions bite in late January 2026. Pope Leo XIV and Cuba’s bishops warn that an effective fuel blockade could spark “social chaos and violence,” hitting ordinary families the hardest.

Echoes of Venezuela’s Lesson

The unfolding showdown in Cuba comes on the heels of another stark episode just weeks ago. In early January, Trump shocked the world by ordering a military strike in Venezuela that ousted President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country.

That operation might have boosted hawks in Washington, but it was met with concern in Rome — and sent a chill through Havana, Maduro’s closest ally.

Pope Leo had seen it coming. In fact, weeks before the attack, he openly cautioned against any plan “to invade Venezuelan territory,” pleading that it was “better to look for ways of dialogue”.

Those words fell on deaf ears. Trump forged ahead, dispatching U.S. special forces to violate Venezuela’s borders and seize its head of state, in brazen disregard of international law.

The American pope’s worst fears were realized: “war is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading,” Leo lamented in a major foreign-policy speech after the Venezuela raid. He warned that the post-WWII principle against using force to grab territory had been “completely undermined.”

Now, with Cuba in the crosshairs, Leo is determined to prevent history from repeating itself so soon.

From the Vatican’s perspective, the Cuban drama is a test of conscience for the United States. Trump has made no secret of his intent to bring Cuba’s communist government to its knees.

“Cuba will be failing pretty soon,” he bragged recently, crowing that Havana has lost Venezuela’s lifeline and will “come to us to make a deal” on Washington’s terms.

The new tariffs on Cuba’s oil suppliers — most pointedly Mexico, which had been a rare source of fuel — are designed to suffocate the island’s economy. Cuba’s own president has blasted Trump’s move as an attempt to “suffocate the Cuban economy” under a “false and baseless pretext.”

Mexico’s leader warned that such heavy-handed tactics “could trigger a far-reaching humanitarian crisis” in Cuba’s hospitals and food systems.

In other words, the world sees what’s at stake: real lives, real livelihoods. That is exactly why Pope Leo XIV is speaking out so urgently.

He is channeling the pleas of Cuba’s bishops, who in their own weekend message insisted their nation “needs changes — but not at the expense of the suffering of the country’s poor, of the elderly, of the sick and of the children.”

No more blood, no more mourning, the bishops begged, stressing that disputes must be resolved through dialogue, not coercion or war.

The pope’s intervention this week is vintage Leo — imbued with the demands of the Gospel, the Roman pontiff directly challenging his homeland to treat the Cuban people with dignity.

Since day one of his papacy, the first American pope has made the cause of the vulnerable his top theme.

Whether defending migrants at the U.S. border or protesting a “throwaway” economy, Leo has shown a willingness to clash with Trump’s worldview when it violates fundamental human dignity.

In this Cuba moment, he has effectively drawn a line: militarism and collective punishment are morally indefensible.

In his Sunday remarks, Leo invoked Cuba’s patron saint, Our Lady of Charity, praying she “assist and protect all the children of that beloved land.” In doing so, Leo casts the Cuban people — not their regime or any ideology — as the priority deserving protection.

This is the opposite of how strongmen operate, and Trump surely doesn’t enjoy being challenged. But Leo’s stance carries weight.

U.S. Catholic leaders are echoing his call, and lay Catholics are rallying to a vision of faith that rejects cruelty. In fact, thanks in part to Leo’s clarion witness, Trump’s approval among American Catholics has plunged to just 39% — an all-time low.

The faithful have seen enough. They know, as Pope Leo does, that a superpower “victory” built on broken Cuban families would be a pyrrhic one at best.

The stage is set for a test of wills and values. As President Trump weighs how far to push Cuba — flirting with a “real blockade” and even the specter of invasion — Pope Leo XIV is offering a different path, one grounded in dialogue, law, and the common good.

Even more than a diplomatic appeal, it’s a moral dare.

Will the Trump-Vance White House heed the Gospel call echoed by an American Pope to choose peace over posturing, or barrel ahead into another needless conflict? History’s eyes are watching.

For the sake of the long-suffering Cuban people, Leo XIV is begging his homeland to turn back now.

After all the bloodshed and division of recent years, the pope’s message is clear: true greatness will never be found in making war on the vulnerable, but in protecting them.

On behalf of 61% of American Catholics who are done with Trump’s shenanigans, Letters from Leo will do all we can to sound the alarm and ensure the regime doesn’t plunge our country into another needless and bloody conflict.

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