16.4.2026
Pope Leo XIV criticised the “tyrants” ransacking the world on Thursday, on a high-security visit to a “bloodstained” region of Cameroon following a war of words with US President Donald Trump.
Since his landmark four-nation African tour started earlier this week, the pope has abandoned his previous restraint in speaking out in favour of world peace, particularly after Trump lashed out against his criticism of the Iran war.
“Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,” Leo said in the northwestern city of Bamenda, the epicenter of a nearly decade-long English-speaking separatist insurgency that has killed thousands.
“The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters,” the pontiff warned, in a solemn speech at Bamenda’s Saint Joseph’s Cathedral.
Coming after US Vice President JD Vance urged the Vatican to “stick to matters of morality,” the remarks could deepen the rift between the Trump administration and the Chicago-born pontiff.
Yet the mood was joyous as the pope arrived under a military escort in a popemobile with bulletproof windows, blessing the worshippers who had gathered, many singing and blowing vuvuzela horns, to welcome him to Bamenda.
As he left the cathedral, the pontiff released white doves, a symbol of peace in a region of the central African country he called a “bloodstained yet fertile land that has been mistreated.”
“Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilisation and death,” he said.
“They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found,” he added.
Later on Thursday at Bamenda airport, which was renovated for the pope’s visit after being shut since 2019 due to the separatist insurgency, the pope criticised the ongoing exploitation of Africa in a mass to worshippers. Euronews