Online Reporter
The Pope has criticised leaders who spend billions on wars, saying the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” in unusually forceful comments made during a visit to Cameroon.
The pontiff also condemned those he said had manipulated “the very name of God” for their own gain, while touring a region ravaged by a deadly insurgency.
The remarks come just days after a high-profile spat with US President Donald Trump, who posted a lengthy attack on the Pope, a vocal critic of the US-Israeli military operation in Iran.
Pope Leo had voiced concern over Trump’s warning that “a whole civilisation will die” if Iran did not agree to US demands to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz.
Leo, who last year became the first US-born Pope, has also previously questioned the Trump administration’s approach to immigration.
“Leo should get his act together as Pope,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post at the time.
The Pope told reporters at the start of his Africa tour that he did not wish to enter into a debate with Trump, but would continue to promote peace.
Speaking in Cameroon, the Pope criticised leaders who “turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found”.
He also condemned “an endless cycle of destabilisation and death” in a “bloodstained” region of Cameroon that has been gripped by insurgency for nearly a decade.
“Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilisation and death,” he told worshippers gathered at a cathedral in the north-western city of Bamenda — the epicentre of violence that has left at least 6 000 people dead and displaced many more.
“Peace is not something we must invent; it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbour as a brother and as a sister,” the Pope said.
Separatist insurgents in Cameroon’s two Anglophone regions have been fighting the predominantly Francophone government since 2017.
Following Leo’s address, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, said she stood with the Pope in his “courageous call for a kingdom of peace”.
The war in Iran has increasingly placed the Pope and the Trump administration at odds.
Soon after the first US and Israeli attacks on Iran, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth recited a highly controversial prayer at a Pentagon worship service, referring to “overwhelming violence” and “justice executed swiftly and without remorse”.
During a Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square, the Pope described the conflict between Iran, Israel and the United States as “atrocious”, saying Jesus could not be used to justify war.
“This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war — whom no one can use to justify war,” he told tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in Vatican City.
“He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
The Pope also quoted the Biblical passage Isaiah 1:15: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.”
Earlier this week, Trump launched a scathing attack on the Pope on social media, describing the Catholic leader as “WEAK on Crime and terrible for Foreign Policy”, while portraying himself as a Jesus-like figure.
He later doubled down on his criticism and refused to apologise, although he deleted the AI-generated image of himself.
Asked about Trump’s remarks as he arrived in Algiers, the Pope said he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and would continue to speak out against war.
The Catholic leader’s wide-ranging Africa tour will include stops in 11 cities across four countries. — BBc
