Pope Leo says not seeking ‘new debate’ with Trump on trip to Angola

Pope Leo XIV has downplayed his recent back-and-forth with United States President Donald Trump over the Middle East as he travels to Angola on the third leg of a landmark African tour.

Leo, the third pontiff to visit the fossil fuel-rich country after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009, is expected to arrive at 3pm (14:00 GMT) on Saturday in the capital, Luanda, 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 slated to meet Angola’s 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 appeals for an end to the US-Israel war on Iran, and his condemnation of those who claim the war is religiously justified, prompted rebuke from Trump.

Earlier this week, Trump called the 70-year-old head of the Catholic Church “weak on crime” and “terrible for 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 responded that he was not afraid of Trump and would continue to speak on matters of war.

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

The statement prompted a rebuke from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which maintained Leo’s comments were in line with the church’s “just war” doctrine: That the war “must be a defense against another who actively wages war”.

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

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

“And yet it was perceived as if I were trying to start a new debate with the president, which doesn’t interest me at all,” Leo said.

“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been 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.

Throughout his African visit, the first pope from the US has issued pointed warnings about corruption, the exploitation of the continent’s vast resources and the dangers of artificial intelligence.

During his stop in 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 have relevance in Angola, where one-third of the population lives below the poverty line despite vast fossil fuel reserves.

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

On Monday, Leo is due to travel to Saurimo to visit a retirement home and hold another Mass. He will then fly to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of his 18,000km (11,185-mile) African tour.