1 of 2 | Pope Leo XIV waves during a welcome ceremony at Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Luanda, Angola, Saturday. The Pope is on an 11-day trip to Africa, with stops in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. Photo by Jose Sena Goulao/EPA
April 18 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV said he has no interest in debating President Donald Trump as he flew to Angola for the third leg of his 11-day trip to Africa.
In Cameroon on Thursday, Leo told attendees at a prayer meeting that the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”
“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,” he said.
While traveling on the papal plane from Cameroon to Angola Saturday, Leo said his words were not an attack on Trump or his actions in Iran.
He told reporters that his speech was written “weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself, and on the message of peace I am promoting,” NBC News reported. “It looked like I was trying to debate the president, which is not my interest at all.”
Last Sunday, Trump lashed out at Leo over his criticism of the war in Iran, claiming a reason the American was named pontiff was because the Catholic Church was trying to curry favor with his administration.
Leo responded saying, “I have no fear of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.”
Aboard the plane Saturday, Leo vowed to “promote peace in our world,” and said that his Africa trip is to “be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all of the Catholics throughout Africa.”
Leo landed in Luanda, Angola, around 3 p.m. WAT Saturday and was welcomed by President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.
The pope met with Angola’s authorities and others at the Presidential Palace in Luanda Saturday. In his speech, he acknowledged those who were affected by recent flooding in the Benguela Province, a coastal area south of Luanda. More than 30 people were killed.
He said he is praying for the victims and noted the national response, that Angolans are “united in a great chain of solidarity in support of those affected.”
Leo said the country’s most important resources are not material but human. “Your people possess treasures that cannot be sold or stolen. There is within them a joy that not even the most adverse circumstances have been able to extinguish,” he said.
The pope is scheduled to celebrate mass at Kilamba, a Luanda suburb, before travelling to the Shrine of Muxima. On Monday, he will travel to Saurimo, where he will visit the elderly and celebrate mass, before returning to Luanda. Tuesday morning, he travels to Equatorial Guinea for his final stop on the trip.