World News
Nigeria left out as Pope Leo visits Africa
Nigeria, the giant of Africa with a high number of Catholics faithful has been left out as Pope Leo XIV embarks Monday on an 11-day visit to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea for his first major international trip since becoming pontiff last year.
From dialogue with Islam to peace efforts, inequality and human rights, the US-born pontiff will address a myriad of issues as he covers more than 18,000 kilometres (11,000 miles) across the African continent.
Leo, who took over as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, will make 11 speeches, preside over seven masses and visit a dozen locations during the trip which lasts until April 23.
The 70-year-old’s words and actions, always closely watched, will have even deeper resonance at a time of deep global uncertainty caused by the Middle East war and resulting energy shock.
It will be Leo’s third trip outside Italy, after Turkey and Lebanon last year, and Monaco in March.
Algeria (13-15 April) – Making history
Leo will be the first pope to go to the North African country of Algeria, where Islam is the state religion.
He will visit the Great Mosque of Algiers and meet with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. He will also meet members of the Augustinian order to which the pontiff belongs, in Annaba, the one-time home of Saint Augustine.
The pope is “a brother who comes to visit his brothers”, Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, the archbishop of Algiers, told AFP ahead of the visit.
Leo will pray privately in a chapel dedicated to 19 priests and nuns murdered during Algeria’s 1992-2002 civil war.
Ahead of the visit, three international NGOs called on the pope to raise concerns about the treatment of religious minorities with Algeria’s authorities.
Cameroon (15-18 April) – Call to peace
A call to peace and reconciliation is expected to dominate the pope’s visit to majority-Christian Cameroon in central Africa, where the English-speaking northwest has been torn apart by nearly a decade of conflict.
The Catholic Church has played a mediating role in the conflict and the centrepiece of Leo’s visit will be a speech and mass in Bamenda, the epicentre of the violence, to be held under heavy security.
Leo will visit some of the Church’s vast network of hospitals, schools and charitable organisations in Cameroon, where about 37 percent of the 30 million inhabitants are Catholic.
And he will meet with President Paul Biya, 93, one of the world’s longest-serving heads of state who has at times faced criticism from senior Cameroonian clergy over his hold on power.
Angola (18-21 April) – Natural resources
The visit to Angola, a former Portuguese colony in southern Africa, will be a chance for Leo to expound on social themes dear to his heart.
The country is rich in oil and minerals but plagued by poverty, and still scarred by a long civil war that ended in 2002.
Leo is expected to emphasise the need for a more equitable distribution of the wealth from natural resources, as well as the fight against corruption.
His presence is eagerly awaited by Angolan Catholics, who make up around 44 percent of the population, but some are less enthusiastic.
“At the societal level, it represents nothing, because millions of dollars will be taken from the state treasury to prepare, without bringing any benefits to our country,” teacher Rosa Kanga, 42, told AFP.
Leo will visit the capital Luanda — where affluent neighbourhoods contrast with vast slums — but also venture outside. He will go to a centuries-old church on a former slave-trafficking route in the village of Muxima, one of the holiest sites in southern Africa.
Equatorial Guinea (21-23 April) – Balancing act
Leo’s visit to Equatorial Guinea, which has been under iron-fisted rule by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979, will require a delicate balancing act.
Some 80 percent of the two million inhabitants are Catholic, but Jean-Paul II is the only pope to have visited, almost half a century ago.
Leo will have to tread carefully between trying to support local Catholics and being seen as endorsing the authoritarian government. Many expect him to deliver a message on human rights and social justice.
In Malabo, recently downgraded as the country’s capital by presidential decree, giant photos of the pontiff were displayed across the city ahead of Leo’s arrival, with national television broadcast adverts about the trip on loop.
United States of America President, Donald Trump, has made a shocking revelation about how Pope Leo XIV emerged the Catholic pontiff last year.
The revelation was made in one of the verbal missiles he fired at the Pope, following the latter’s criticism of the war in Iran and Trump’s activities in Venezuela.
“Leo should be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He wasn’t on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J. Trump.”
“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump wrote.
In his post, Trump also accused the pope of being “WEAK on crime,” and said that his pontificate is bad for the church
“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!” Trump wrote.
Frontline American figures, President Donald J. Trump and Pope Leo XIV have jettisoned their camaraderie and threw verbal punches at each other.
Pope Leo on Saturday, led a prayer service for peace in Rome, and while he did not mention Trump by name, his comments seemed aimed at the ongoing war.
“Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!” the pope said. “True strength is shown in serving life.”
Reacting, Trump published a lengthy attack on Pope Leo XIV on Sunday night, calling the first U.S.-born pope “terrible on Foreign Policy,” citing Leo’s opposition to the ongoing war in Iran and U.S. military action in Venezuela and stating that his pontificate is hurting the church.
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday night. “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.”
Trump made similar comments to reporters on Sunday gathered at Joint Base Andrews.
Trump’s post came shortly after “60 Minutes” aired an interview featuring three U.S. Cardinals – Blase Cupich of Chicago, Joseph Tobin of Newark and Robert McElroy of Washington – who were critical of Trump’s foreign policy objectives and his deportation strategies at home.
In introducing the “60 Minutes” segment, CBS News journalist Norah O’Donnell said that Leo had become “increasingly outspoken” against the Trump administration’s policies, and that the pope has emerged as a voice of moral opposition to the war in Iran and the administration’s mass deportation campaign.
O’Donnell asked the three cardinals whether they would like to see Leo be even more outspoken on issues that he disagrees with. Tobin said that the pope is “the pastor of the world, he’s not a pundit.”
“So the distinction is that he’s not going to pronounce on everything, but he’s going to pronounce on what’s important,” Tobin said.
On April 7, Trump threatened Iran, posting on social media, “a whole civilization will die,” which prompted Leo to respond, saying such threats were “truly unacceptable.”
CNN reported that Pope Leo XIV on Monday strongly pushed back against criticism from US President Donald Trump, defending his position of seeking peace and rejecting violence amid the Iran war.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” the pontiff told reporters aboard his plane as he started a 10-day trip to the African continent.
“We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective (as) he might understand it,” he continued. “But I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
Italy has moved against US President Donald Trump following his verbal attack on Pope Leo XIV.
A report by Reuters said Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni offered support to Pope Leo on Tuesday, after the pontiff was sharply criticised by Trump.
“I express my solidarity with Pope Leo, frankly I would not feel very comfortable in a society where religious leaders do what political leaders say,” Meloni said.
The Italian leader, who is seen as close to Trump, was speaking to reporters in Verona, on the sidelines of a conference on the wine industry.
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