Attacked by Trump, Pope Leo denounces in a harsh message the “hand of tyrants” that is devastating the world
Pope Leo XIV slammed leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world is being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, in unusually strong remarks in Cameroon on Thursday, after US President Donald Trump again attacked him on social media, Reuters reports.
Leo, the first pope from the United States, also condemned leaders who use religious language to justify wars and called for “a decisive change in direction.”
“The masters of war pretend not to know that it only takes a moment to destroy, but often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild,” said the sovereign pontiff.
“[Ei] I turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are being spent on killing and devastation, while the resources for healing, education and reconstruction are nowhere to be found,” Pope Leo continued during a meeting in the largest city in Cameroon's English-speaking regions, where a nearly decade-long conflict has left thousands dead.
Pope Leo laments “the world turned upside down”
Trump's attacks on Leon, initially launched on the eve of the pope's extensive tour of four African countries, have caused concern in Africa, home to more than a fifth of the world's Catholics.
Leon, who has been relatively low-key for most of his first year as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Church, has become a vocal critic of the war sparked by the US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
On Thursday, he sharply criticized leaders who invoke religious themes to justify wars.
“Woe to those who manipulate religion and even the name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging what is sacred into darkness and filth,” he said in Cameroon.
“It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God's creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience,” the pope emphasized.
He made similar comments last month, saying God rejects the prayers of leaders with “bloody hands,” in a statement widely interpreted as directed at Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of war, who used Christian language to justify attacks on Iran.
Trump says Pope Leo is 'weak' and 'disastrous'
The US president began criticizing Leon on social media on Sunday, when he wrote of the pope as “WEAK in the face of criminality and disastrous in foreign policy.”
The US president attacked him again on social media late Tuesday, and on Wednesday Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him, after an earlier image of himself as a Jesus-like figure drew widespread criticism.
Leon told Reuters on Monday that he would not stop speaking out about the Iran war and has avoided directly responding to Trump since then.
Efforts to broker a peace deal in the Middle East have so far yielded limited results, but Pope Leo said Thursday he was encouraged that the crisis “has not degenerated into a religious war” and expressed hope that Christian and Muslim leaders could mediate an end to the fighting.
