BAMENDA, Cameroon, April 16 (Reuters) – Pope Leo criticized leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was ‘being devastated by some tyrants’, in unusually forceful comments in Cameroon on Thursday, after US President Donald Trump attacked him again on social media.
Leo, the first US pope, also condemned leaders who use religious language to justify wars and called for a ‘decisive change of course’ at a meeting in the largest city in Cameroon’s Anglophone regions, where a simmering conflict dating back nearly a decade has left thousands dead.
‘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,’ the pontiff said.
“They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on death and devastation, but the resources needed 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 tour of Africa and repeated on Tuesday, caused consternation in Africa, where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live.
Leo, who kept a relatively low profile for most of his first year as leader of the 1.4 billion-follower church, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the war that began with Israeli and American attacks on Iran.
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On Thursday, the pontiff harshly criticized leaders who invoke religious themes to justify wars.
‘Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging what is sacred into darkness and filth,’ he said.
‘It is a world turned upside down, an exploration of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.’
The pope made similar remarks last month, saying that God rejected the prayers of leaders with ‘hands full of blood,’ in comments widely interpreted as aimed at US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who invoked Christian language to justify the Iran war.
Trump began his criticism of Leo on Sunday when he called the pope ‘weak on crime and terrible at foreign policy’ in a post on Truth Social.
The US president attacked him again on social media on Tuesday and Wednesday. Trump posted an image of Jesus hugging him, after an earlier image he posted depicting him as a Jesus-like figure sparked widespread criticism.
