ROME – Pope Francis has condemned the US military’s naming for the biggest non-nuclear explosive as “the mother of all bombs”, saying the word “mother” should not be used in reference to a deadly weapon.

“I was ashamed when I heard the name,” Pope Francis told an audience of students on Saturday, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

“A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is happening?”

Pope Francis was referring to the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), the US biggest non-nuclear explosive, which was dropped last month in eastern Afghanistan.

Weighing more than 10kg, it has a bomb radius which is a mile wide.

Nicknamed “mother of all bombs” by the US military, the term was widely used in media coverage the followed the attack.

This is not the first time Pope Francis has been critical of Donald Trump.

In February 2016, Pope said that the then American presidential candidate was not Christian after being asked about Trump’s proposals to deport 11 million immigrants.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel,” he told reporters on a flight from Mexico City to Italy.

Trump retaliated by describing the Pontiff’s remarks as “disgraceful”.

The pontiff and Trump are planned to meet later this month on May 24.