Pope Leo Says a ‘Handful of Tyrants’ Are Ravaging the World

In a sharp rebuke delivered in Cameroon, Pope Leo accused leaders of pouring billions into war while the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” escalating his rhetoric just days after US President Donald Trump targeted him on social media.

Addressing a meeting in the largest city in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, the pontiff condemned politicians who cloak conflict in religious language and called for a “decisive change of course” in an area scarred by a nearly decade-long crisis that has claimed thousands of lives.

“The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet 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 killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.”

Trump’s broadsides against Pope Leo, first issued on the eve of the pope’s ambitious four-country African tour and repeated on Tuesday, have unsettled many across Africa, home to more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics.

Leo, who spent much of his first year at the head of the 1.4-billion-member church in a relatively restrained public posture, has increasingly emerged as a vocal critic of the war sparked by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

Sarah Mullally, Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide, said she stood with the pope in his “courageous call for a kingdom of peace”.

Speaking in Bamenda, the anglophone city at the heart of his visit, Leo also delivered a fierce denunciation of leaders who use faith to rationalise warfare.

“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” he said.

“It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience,” he added.

Last month, the pope voiced similar outrage when he said God rejected prayers from leaders with “hands full of blood” — remarks widely seen as directed at US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has invoked Christian language in defending the Iran war.

Donald Trump insisted he was not ‘fighting’ with the pontiff

Trump said Pope Leo was free to speak his mind on world affairs, but argued that the pontiff needed to grasp the realities of what he called a “nasty world”.

Though more measured in tone while speaking to reporters, the president still attempted to lecture the pope over the war in Iran.

“The pope has to understand Iran has killed more than 42,000 people over the last few months,” the president said.

He added: “They were totally unarmed protesters. The pope has to understand that.

“This is the real world, it’s a nasty world.”

Trump rejected the idea that he was “fighting” with the pontiff and said he had “nothing against” him.

He began attacking Leo on Sunday, branding the pope “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” in a post on Truth Social.

Late on Tuesday, the US president renewed his criticism of Pope Leo on social media.

On Wednesday, Trump posted an image of Jesus embracing him after facing widespread backlash over an earlier image depicting him as a Jesus-like figure.

The pope told Reuters on Monday that he would continue speaking out about the Iran war and, since then, has avoided responding directly to Trump.

Three-day ceasefire during visit

After landing in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, on Wednesday, Pope Leo urged the government of the Central African country — led by President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest ruler at 93 — to tackle corruption and resist “the whims of the rich and powerful”.

At an airport mass in Bamenda attended by about 20,000 people, the pope also criticised foreign interests exploiting Africa’s resources, saying such practices were helping fuel poverty and underdevelopment across the continent.

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

Leo’s visit to Bamenda has stirred cautious hope that momentum might build toward ending a conflict rooted in Cameroon’s complex colonial and post-colonial past.

Cameroon, once a German colony, was divided between Britain and France after World War One. The French-administered territory gained independence in 1960 and was joined the following year by the smaller English-speaking British-administered region to the west.

Fighting between government troops and anglophone separatist groups has killed more than 6,500 people and displaced more than half ‌a million, ⁠according to the International Crisis Group.

Priests are often abducted for ransom and some have been killed. Pope Leo heard testimony from Sister Carine Tangiri Mangu, who said she was kidnapped and held hostage for three days last November, and from Imam Mohamad Abubakar, who recounted how armed men “invaded” a mosque during prayers that same month, killing three people.

A separatist alliance ⁠said it would observe a three-day ceasefire so civilians and visitors could move freely during the pope’s trip.

Attempts to broker peace have so far yielded little. Still, Leo said he took heart from the fact that the crisis “has not degenerated into a religious war” and voiced hope that Christian and Muslim leaders could help mediate an end to the bloodshed.