Pope Leo's response after the virulent attack by the US president. “I'm not afraid of the Trump administration”
Pope Leo told Reuters on Monday that he plans to continue to speak out against the war, following US President Donald Trump's direct attack on the leader of the 1.4 billion-member Church.
In remarks made aboard the papal plane en route to Algeria, where the first American pope begins a 10-day visit to four African countries, the Supreme Pontiff also said the Christian message was being “abused.”
“I don't want to get into a debate with him,” Pope Leo told Reuters as he greeted journalists on the plane.
“I don't think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people do,” the head of the Catholic Church said.
“I will continue to speak out loudly against war, aiming to promote peace, dialogue and multilateral relations between states to find just solutions to problems,” he said in English.
“Too many people are suffering in today's world,” Pope Leo said. “Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think somebody needs to take a stand and say there's a better way.”
“The message of the Church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers. I don't see my role as a political one, as a politician,” he said.
Trump's attack
The first US-born pope in history emphasized that he was not launching a direct attack on Trump or anyone else with his general call for peace and criticism of the “illusion of omnipotence” that is fueling wars in Iran and other conflicts around the world, according to the AP.
According to the quoted source, in the discussion with other journalists, he added: “I am not afraid of the Trump administration.”
Pope Leon, a native of Chicago, has stood out in recent weeks as an outspoken critic of the US-Israel war against Iran and denounced the “madness of war” in a call for peace on Saturday.
Trump, in an apparent response to the pope's criticism of both the conflict and the White House's tough immigration policies, said late Sunday that the Supreme Pontiff is “terrible.”
“Papa Leon is WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
