Pope Leo says not looking for ‘new debate’ with Trump on trip to Angola | Religion News

Leo is the third pope to visit the fossil fuel-rich country after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009.

Pope Leo XIV decried his recent back and forth with US President Donald Trump on the Middle East as he travels to Angola on the third leg of a landmark African tour.

Leo, the third pope to visit the fossil fuel-rich country after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009, is expected to arrive in the capital Luanda at 3pm (1400 GMT) on Saturday, where billboards bearing his image have been erected to welcome him.

The pope, who visited Cameroon for three days before flying to Luanda, is also scheduled to meet Angolan President Joao Lourenco and deliver a speech in the country, where about 44 percent of the population identifies as Catholic.

The trip comes after Leo’s calls for an end to the US-Israel war against Iran, and his condemnation of those who claim the war is religiously justified, drew rebuke from Trump.

Earlier this week, Trump called the 70-year-old head of the Catholic Church “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy.” He later posted what appeared to be an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, prompting a backlash from leaders across the religious spectrum.

Leo replied that he is not afraid of Trump and will continue to talk about war issues.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance then urged the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality,” saying the pope should “be careful when he talks about theological matters.”

The statement prompted a rebuke from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which insisted Leo’s comments were consistent with the church’s “just war” doctrine: That war “must be a defense against another who is actively waging war.”

The pope has not responded directly to Trump and Vance since then, although comments made while in Cameroon — that the world is “being plagued by a handful of tyrants” — were seen by many as an indirect condemnation of the US officials.

But Leo, speaking to reporters on Saturday, said his statements were written long before the latest exchange with Trump.

“And yet it was perceived as if I tried to start a new debate with the president, which does not interest me at all,” said Leo.

“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what was said,” he added.

‘Stick to matters of morality’

Leo’s increasingly forceful calls for world peace are likely to resonate in Angola, which emerged in 2002 from a 27-year civil war that erupted after independence from Portugal in 1975.

During his visit to Africa, the first US pope issued stark warnings about corruption, the exploitation of the continent’s vast resources and the dangers of artificial intelligence.

During his visit to Cameroon, Leo urged the country’s leaders to tackle corruption and condemned “those who, in the name of profit, continue to seize the African continent to exploit and plunder it.”

Leo’s warnings against corruption and exploitation may be relevant in Angola, where one-third of the population lives below the poverty line despite large fossil fuel reserves.

On Sunday, he will celebrate an open-air mass in Kilamba, outside Luanda, before traveling by helicopter to Muxima, home to a 16th-century church and major pilgrimage site.

Leo will travel to Saurimo on Monday to visit a retirement home and hold another mass. He will then fly to Equatorial Guinea, the last stop on his 18,000 km (11,185 mile) African tour.