Debunked: Posts misrepresent a routine honour given to the Iranian ambassador by the Vatican
POSTS CLAIMING THAT Pope Leo XIV had spurned the Trump administration by honouring Iran’s ambassador misrepresent a standard ceremony that saw 13 diplomats honoured.
The medal awarded to the Iranian ambassador is customary and was given to 12 other ambassadors at the same time.
However, selective reporting by Iranian state media and incendiary social media posts based on that Iranian reporting have portrayed the routine ceremony as a sign that the Vatican is politically siding with Iran.
“You won’t believe this,” a 13 May Facebook post shared more than 1,400 times begins. “Pope Leo XIV just gave Iran’s terrorist regime a top honour from the Catholic Church — the day after meeting with Marco Rubio.
“Why would the Pope do this? Particularly right now?” it goes on. “This is rewarding butchery!”
The timing of the honour was emphasised in other posts as well.
“The timing is not incidental. It is a statement,” a 12 May Facebook post shared more than 420 times reads.
“This is not a routine diplomatic courtesy. This is the moral authority of the oldest continuous institution in Western civilisation placing itself on the record, clearly and publicly, on the side of the nation that was bombed rather than the nation that dropped the bombs.
“Trump has the aircraft carriers. Netanyahu has the F-35s. Iran has the Pope.”
These posts echo the same language and use the same image as Iranian state media.
“Dr Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, Iran’s ambassador to the Vatican, received the highest diplomatic honour from Pope Leo XIV,” says a 12 May post from the Iranian state-run English language news outlet Press TV.
“Established in 1847 under Pope Pius IX, the medal is awarded to ambassadors and notable figures for their efforts to strengthen diplomacy and promote peace.”
The Iranian post is arguably correct in the facts; however, it potentially misleads by how it presents them.
Did the Iranian ambassador receive the highest diplomatic honour from Pope Leo XIV? Kind of. While the Order of Pope Pius IX is arguably the highest diplomatic honour the Vatican bestows, that probably reflects more on the lack of variety in Vatican diplomatic medals than the stature of the specific medal.
It was bestowed on Leo’s behalf by an archbishop — Leo didn’t attend the ceremony, though the posts and Iranian media did use a misleading image depicting the Pope and the ambassador shaking hands. Iranian media identified this as an old “file photo”.
Technically, the Catholic News website The Pillar explains, the Order of Pope Pius IX is not the highest diplomatic honour – the Supreme Order of Christ and the Order of the Golden Spur are more prestigious, but these haven’t been awarded in decades and are considered dormant.
Similarly, both the Iranian and other social media posts neglected to mention that the Iranian ambassador was not the only diplomat to receive the award – a dozen other diplomats received the same honour at the same ceremony.
“Contrary to news reports, Pope Leo has not bestowed an exclusive special honour on the Iranian Ambassador to the Holy See,” the US embassy to the Vatican wrote on X on 13 May. “It is a personal recognition and does not imply support or opposition to any policy or country.”
So, the award was routine and awarded to 13 ambassadors in one go. But is the timing suspicious? Or is it a coincidence that the award was given out as the Pope and the White House appear to be in dispute? There’s no real way to know for sure.
Ongoing tensions predate the US attacks on Iran, and indeed even the start of Leo’s papacy. Leo had criticised the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans when he was still a cardinal.
In January 2026, months after Leo’s inauguration as Pope, American Catholic cardinals condemned threats by Trump to invade and seize control of Greenland.
The next month, America and Israel attacked Iran, leading to multiple calls for peace by Vatican officials and, in April, to direct criticism by the Pope, who named Trump when calling for an end to the war.
In response, Trump said that he was “not a fan of Pope Leo”, and has since cut funding to Catholic charities in a move speculated to be due to the spat.
According to the stated criteria, the Vatican can grant the honour to ambassadors who have served at least two years. Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari had been appointed ambassador in late 2023, about two and a half years before being bestowed the award.
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