Pope Leo has issued a call to “disarm words” in a veiled swipe at US president Donald Trump during his first address to international media.Taking to the stage in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, the new Chicago-born pontiff was met with lengthy applause from thousands of journalists.

While Trump rushed to the White House driveway to praise the Chicago-born and Villanova-educated Leo, his legion of fans were less laudatory. “WOKE MARXIST POPE,” tweeted far-right activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who also called Leo “just another Marxist puppet in the Vatican.”