Before a crowd estimated at about 100,000, Pope Leo XIV delivered a pointed message at a national service attended by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the country’s leader and the world’s long-serving president. Leo called on citizens to work together to forge a society “capable of engendering a new sense of justice,” one with “greater room for freedom” where “the dignity of the human person always may be safeguarded.” He also addressed the nation’s troubling record on human rights and the stark imbalance in how the oil-rich…

On a visit to Cameroon's troubled northwest, Pope Leo XIV delivered a forceful rebuke to foreign profiteers, accusing them of siphoning Africa’s wealth and deepening the continent’s hardships. Speaking in Bamenda, the epicentre of the country’s long-running Anglophone separatist crisis, he urged Cameroon’s government to confront corruption so that peace can take root. The pontiff said domestic failings are being compounded by outside actors who, “in the name of profit,” continue to seize Africa’s resources to “exploit and…

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…

A widening feud between US President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV has erupted into a deeply unusual political and spiritual clash, one that could carry real consequences for the Republican leader as November’s pivotal US mid-term elections draw closer. Mr Trump has come under fire, including from some of his own allies, after lashing out at the US-born pontiff, who has condemned the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, its intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The dispute threatens to unsettle the religious…

Donald Trump has declined to apologise for attacking Pope Leo XIV, escalating an extraordinary public clash after the pontiff renewed his call for an end to the violence in the Iran war. "There's nothing to apologise for. He's wrong," Mr Trump told reporters, doubling down a day after a social media post and public remarks aimed at the US-born pope. "Pope Leo said things that are wrong. He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran, and you cannot have a nuclear Iran," said Trump, who also argued that Leo was…

As Pope Leo XIV begins a 10-day tour of Africa, a growing rift between the Vatican and President Donald Trump’s administration has come sharply into focus. Ties between the Holy See and Washington have long shifted with the political winds. But tensions escalated after the Pope suggested over the weekend that a “delusion of omnipotence” was helping drive the war on Iran, prompting a swift rebuke from the US President. “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo,” Trump said. In a social media post, he branded the leader of the Catholic…

Pope Leo XIV will soon undertake a sweeping 18,000-kilometre journey through Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, a packed itinerary that includes 11 speeches and seven masses before his return on 23 April. The trip is designed to spotlight some of the world’s most urgent concerns — from conflict and migration to corruption and human rights — against a backdrop of uncertainty tied to the Middle East war. Leo will make history as the first pope to visit Algeria, where Islam is the state religion. His programme…

Easter Sunday will carry unusual weight at the Vatican this year, as Pope Leo XIV prepares to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar for the first time as pontiff while war in the Middle East darkens the celebration. The US-born pope, who has become one of the conflict’s most prominent critics, is due to celebrate mass in St Peter's Square from 9.30am Irish time before thousands of worshippers. The head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will then deliver the traditional blessing at 11am Irish time, a moment likely…

Pope Leo XIV is expected to renew his calls for peace on Monday as he delivers his first Christmas blessing from St. Peter’s Basilica, closing a year overshadowed by war but punctuated by fragile hopes for a truce in Gaza. The “Urbi et Orbi” message, scheduled for 11 a.m. Irish time, traditionally surveys global conflicts and urges reconciliation. The pontiff’s appeal for a one-day worldwide cease-fire went unheeded in Ukraine, where fighting continued. On Christmas Eve, Leo celebrated his first Christmas Mass, calling the…

Pope Leo XIV and the State of Cinema: A Vatican Appeal Pope Leo XIV used a rare audience at the Vatican with leading actors and filmmakers to cast cinema as a cultural bulwark at risk. He warned that theatres are dwindling and urged creative communities to defend the shared experience of film against digital homogenization. Addressed a gathering of prominent actors and directors, including Cate Blanchett, Monica Bellucci, Chris Pine and Spike Lee. Framed cinema as a “workshop of hope” and a space where imagination and…