Pope Leo visits Cameroon with a message of peace amid attacks from Trump | Conflict News

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at calls for peace and criticism of the US war on Iran.

Pope Leo XIV arrived in the African nation of Cameroon and pushed ahead with calls for peace and coexistence that drew the ire of US President Donald Trump.

The first US pope arrived in Cameroon on Wednesday, where he delivered remarks railing against the “screams of the rich and powerful” and calling for peace in a country wracked by sectarian conflict.

“It is time to examine our conscience and take a bold leap forward,” Leo said in a speech before President Paul Biya, who has led Cameroon since 1982.

“For peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption – which disfigure authority and deprive it of its credibility – must be broken,” he added.

Pope Leo is visiting Cameroon as part of a 10-day tour of Africa, where he has continued to offer an outspoken message of peace, anti-corruption and social justice. He arrived after visiting Algeriahis first stop on the journey.

His three-day visit to Cameroon will include a “peace meeting” in the northwestern city of Bamenda, engulfed in fighting from separatist forces, who announced a three-day pause in hostilities during the pope’s visit.

The Catholic leader’s outspoken stance on issues such as the rights and dignity of migrants and criticism of the US-Israel war against Iran has brought him into conflict with the Trump administration.

The pope called Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable” and US Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, recently said the pope “must be careful” when talking about theology.

Trump himself lashed out at the leader of the Catholic Church in a series of social media posts, accusing him of being “soft on crime” and too close to the political left.

The US president’s attacks on the pope have caused discontent among some of his religious supporters. Trump too urged to return when I shared a since-deleted image on social media that appeared to depict him as Jesus Christ.

‘Unthinkable’

“I was absolutely shocked to read President Trump’s comments about the pope. Nowhere in modern history have we seen such verbal recklessness against an institution as revered as the papacy,” Blaise Bebey Abong, 38, a Cameroonian diplomat in Yaounde, told Reuters news agency.

Abong said Trump’s comments were “unthinkable” and said the pope represents a “high moral authority” even for non-Christians and US leaders’ spat with him would damage his perception in the region, even among those who support him.

Pope Leo responded diplomatically but firmly to those attacks, declaring that he has “no fear” of the Trump administration and will continue his calls for peace and criticism of war.

Kwaku Amoah, a Catholic Ghanaian told Reuters he understood why Leo would choose not to get involved.

“The Church often encourages responding to hostility with restraint rather than escalation, and I commend the pope for restraint.”

Speaking from his visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers in Algeria earlier this week, the pope said a message of tolerance and unity was needed in a world suffering from conflict.

“I think the visit to the mosque was significant to say that although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshiping, we have different ways of life, we can live together in peace,” he said.

“And so I think that promoting that kind of image is something that the world needs to hear today.”