Pope Leo visits Cameroon with message of peace amid attacks from Trump

Pope Leo XIV has arrived in the African nation of Cameroon, pressing forward with calls for peace and coexistence that have attracted the ire of United States President Donald Trump.

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

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

“In order for peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption – which disfigure authority and strip 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, anticorruption, and social justice. He arrived after visiting Algeria, his first stop on the trip.

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

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

The pope has called Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilisation “truly unacceptable”, and US Vice President JD Vance, a convert to Catholicism, recently stated that the pope should “be careful” when speaking about theology.

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

The US president’s attacks on the pope have caused dissatisfaction with some of his religious supporters. Trump also prompted a backlash when he shared a since-deleted image on social media that appeared to depict him as Jesus Christ.

‘Unthinkable’

“I was utterly shocked to read President Trump’s remarks about the pope. Nowhere in modern history have we witnessed 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”, saying that the pope represented a “high moral authority” even for non-Christians and the US leaders’ quarrel with him would damage his perception in the region, even among those who support him.

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

Kwaku Amoah, a Catholic Ghanaian told Reuters he understood why Leo would opt not to ⁠engage.

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

Speaking of his visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers earlier this week in Algeria, the pope said that a message of tolerance and unity is necessary 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 worshipping, we have different ways of living, we can live together in peace,” he said.

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