Pope Leo, In Cameroon, Decries ‘Handful Of Tyrants’ Ravaging The World

BAMENDA, Cameroon, April 16 (Reuters) – Pope Leo made unusually strong remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump attacked him on social media, condemning leaders who spent billions of dollars on wars and saying the world was “ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”

Leo, the first US pope, also condemned leaders who used religious language to justify wars and called for a “decisive change of course” at a meeting in the largest city in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, the site of nearly a decade of violent conflict that has left thousands dead.

“The masters of war pretend not to know that it only takes a minute to destroy, but often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild,” the Pope said.

“They ignore the fact that while billions of dollars are spent on killing and destruction, the resources for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.”

Trump’s attacks on Leo, first launched on the eve of the pope’s ambitious four-country African tour and repeated late Tuesday, have caused consternation in Africa, where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live.

Leo, who kept a relatively low profile for much of his first year as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Church, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the war that began with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, said in a statement on Thursday that she stood with the pope in his “bold appeal for the kingdom of peace.”

Speaking in the English-speaking city of Bamenda, the pope also harshly criticized leaders who use religious themes to legitimize wars.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the name of Allah for their own military, economic and political interests, dragging the sacred into darkness and filth,” he said.

“This is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that every honest conscience must condemn and reject.”

The Pope made similar statements last month, saying that God rejects the prayers of leaders with “bloody hands”, and was interpreted as targeting US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who used Christian language to legitimize the Iran war.

Trump began his criticism of Leo in a post on Truth Social on Sunday, calling the pope “weak on crime, terrible on foreign policy.”

The US president attacked Leo again on social media late Tuesday. On Wednesday, Trump posted a photo of Jesus embracing Trump, after an earlier photo depicting him as a Jesus-like figure sparked widespread criticism.

Leo told Reuters on Monday that he would not stop talking about the Iran war and has since avoided responding directly to Trump.

After arriving in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, on Wednesday, Leo called on the Central African country’s government, led by 93-year-old President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest monarch, to root out corruption and resist “the whims of the rich and powerful.”

During a mass attended by nearly 20,000 people at the airport in Bamenda on Thursday, the pope criticized foreigners who exploit Africa’s wealth, saying they were contributing to widespread poverty and underdevelopment.

“The time has come to recreate the mosaic of unity by bringing together the diversity and richness of the country and the continent, not tomorrow but today, not in the future but now,” he said.

Leo’s visit to Bamenda on Thursday raised faint hopes that steps could be taken there to resolve the conflict rooted in the country’s complex colonial and post-colonial history.

Cameroon, a former German colony, was divided between England and France after the First World War. The French part gained independence in 1960, and was joined a year later by the smaller English-speaking British region to the west.

More than 6,500 people have been killed and more than half a million displaced in clashes between government forces and English-speaking separatist groups, according to the International Crisis Group.

Priests are often kidnapped for ransom, and some are killed. Pope Leo on Thursday heard from Sister Carine Tangiri Mangu, who described being kidnapped and held hostage for three days last November, and from Imam Mohamad Abubakar, who described how gunmen “occupied” a mosque during prayers and killed three people the same month.

A separatist alliance said it would impose a three-day ceasefire to allow civilians and visitors to move freely during the pope’s visit.

Efforts to broker a peace agreement have so far yielded little result; however, Leo said he was satisfied that the crisis “did not escalate into a religious war” and expressed hope that Christian and Muslim leaders could mediate an end to the conflict.