By Joshua McElwee
Pope Leo XIV denounced on Thursday the leaders who spend “billions” on war and deplored a world ravaged by “masters of war” and “a handful of tyrants” in unusually offensive remarks made in Cameroon, following new attacks by US President Donald Trump.
As the first pope from the United States, Leo also criticized the use of religious discourse to justify conflicts and called for a “decisive change of course” during a meeting organized in the main city of the Anglophone regions of the country, which has been the center of a conflict claiming thousands of lives for nearly a decade.
“The masters of war pretend not to know that it only takes a moment to destroy, while a whole life often isn’t enough to rebuild,” declared the pontiff.
“They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and destroying, while the resources needed for healing, education, and restoration remain elusive.”
“AN UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD”
Donald Trump’s attacks on Leo, launched the day before the pope’s ambitious African tour and reiterated on Tuesday, have caused consternation in Africa, home to more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics.
Leo, relatively discreet during most of his first year at the head of the 1.4 billion-strong Church, has emerged as a fierce critic of the war triggered by American and Israeli airstrikes against Iran.
On Thursday, the Bishop of Rome strongly 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 profit, involving what is sacred in darkness and corruption,” he stated.
“It’s an upside-down world, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.”
The pope had made similar comments last month, stating that God rejects the prayers of leaders with “blood-soaked hands,” comments widely seen as aimed at US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has used typically Christian semantics to justify the war against Iran.
Donald Trump reiterated his criticism of Leo on Sunday, calling the pope “WEAK on crime, and catastrophic on foreign policy” in a post on Truth Social.
The American president attacked him again on social media on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, he posted an image showing Jesus lambasting. This image followed another where he was depicted as Jesus and was eventually removed, bowing to the controversy.
CLERGY CAUGHT IN THE CAMEROON CONFLICT
Leo had warned on Monday to Reuters that he will not stop speaking out on the war in Iran even if he has since avoided any direct address to Donald Trump.
After his arrival on Wednesday in the Cameroonian capital Yaoundé, he urged the government of this Central African country, led by 93-year-old President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest in-office head of state, to eradicate corruption and resist the whims of the rich and powerful.
The pope’s visit on Thursday to the Anglophone city of Bamenda raised slim hopes for progress in resolving the conflict, rooted in the country’s complex colonial and post-colonial history.
Formerly a German colony, Cameroon was divided between Britain and France after World War I. The French part gained independence in 1960 and was joined a year later by the Anglophone western region from British administration, marked by a strong Protestant tradition.
More than 6,500 people have been killed and over 500,000 displaced in the fighting between government forces and Anglophone separatist groups, according to the International Crisis Group.
Priests are regularly kidnapped for ransom, and some have been killed. A separatist alliance announced a three-day ceasefire to allow civilians and visitors to move freely during the pope’s visit.
Mediation attempts for a peace agreement have so far failed, even though Leo expressed joy on Thursday that the crisis “has not degenerated into a religious war” and expressed confidence that Christian and Muslim leaders could work towards an end to the fighting. (Joshua McElwee; French version by Nicolas Delame, edited by Benoit Van Overstraeten)
