Pope Leo downplays feud with Trump, says ‘not in my interest’ to debate him

Pope Leo sought to downplay his feud with US President Donald Trump on Saturday, saying reporting about comments he has made so far during his Africa tour “has not been accurate in all its aspects”.

Speaking to reporters in English aboard his flight to Angola for the third leg of his ambitious 10-day Africa tour, the first American pope said comments he made two days earlier in Cameroon, decrying that the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, were not aimed at Trump.

That speech, said Leo, “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting”.

On Sunday, as the pontiff prepared to embark on his tour, Trump called him “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy” in a post on Truth Social.

Trump also posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure, drawing widespread criticism even from some religious conservatives who typically support him. The post was removed on Monday morning.

Trump appeared to be responding to Leo’s growing criticism in recent weeks of the US-Israeli war against Iran.

Pope Leo said on Monday that he would keep speaking out about the war, and Trump reiterated his criticism on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, though he did not mention Trump directly again.

“As it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate the president, which is not in my interest at all,” the pontiff said on Saturday.

Leo, originally from Chicago, kept a relatively low profile for a pope in his first 10 months but has debuted a new forceful speaking style in Africa, sharply denouncing war, inequality and global leaders.

His Africa tour is one of the most complicated ever arranged for a pontiff, with stops in 11 cities and towns in four countries, traversing nearly 18,000 kilometres over 18 flights.