Pope Leo says world 'being ravaged by handful of tyrants' after Trump attacks
Source: The Independent
Thursday 16 April 2026 13:24 BST
Pope Leo has said that the world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants amid a deepening row over the war in Iran with US President Donald Trump. Speaking on a visit to Cameroon, the pontiff blasted leaders who spend billions on wars in unusually forceful remarks.
Leo, the first American pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a "decisive change of course". "The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild," the pontiff 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." The pontiff sharply criticised leaders who invoked religious themes to justify wars, saying: 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.
He said the world had turned upside down and that said that it is an exploitation of Gods creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience. Leo has emerged as an outspoken critic of Trumps war in Iran, which has sparked fighting across the Middle East and a global economic crisis.
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pope-leo-trump-truth-social-attack-b2958952.html
littlemissmartypants
(34,006 posts)Lovie777
(23,184 posts)FakeNoose
(41,905 posts)ck4829
(37,922 posts)Irish_Dem
(81,747 posts)Pope Leo is fighting the good fight.
Irish_Dem
(81,747 posts)Good fighting evil every day.
Wow.
peppertree
(23,397 posts)
Irish_Dem
(81,747 posts)He is the source of the best prayer of all times:
The Prayer of St. Francis
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)NNadir
(38,214 posts)BeyondGeography
(41,155 posts)No mention of tyrants in their account.
Its enough to piss me off.
BumRushDaShow
(170,542 posts)and it finally trickled over to their US version site.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)Scrivener7
(59,757 posts)16 years of Catholic education can feel.
hlthe2b
(114,149 posts)Talitha
(8,072 posts)ck4829
(37,922 posts)sop
(18,856 posts)screeds over the next few hours/days. At some point Trump and his henchmen will threaten to arrest Leo, possibly even have him killed. We've been here before:
'Behind a Nazi Plot to Seize the Pope'
(NPR) "In September 1943, the tide of the war was turning against the Nazis, and a secret plan to kidnap and possibly kill Pope Pius XII was under way."
"Adolf Hitler, whose mental condition was deteriorating, feared the Pope would speak out about Nazi actions against the Jews, and ordered his SS leader in Italy, Gen. Karl Wolff, to carry out the deed."
https://www.npr.org/2007/06/17/11096772/behind-a-nazi-plot-to-seize-the-pope
Midnight Writer
(25,529 posts)His reaction to every criticism is to prove the criticism is not only accurate, but understated, bigly.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)Justice matters.
(9,885 posts)Especially, his LieSocial.
Bayard
(29,910 posts)The Pope is stating the obvious that everyone knows.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)FarPoint
(14,857 posts)People within these aggressive countries don't want these dictators....The Pope can help them rise up....Just my opinion... we need someone to do this task.
Grim Chieftain
(1,854 posts)Divine intervention?
oldinmtdem92
(145 posts)but i really like pope Leo.
Grim Chieftain
(1,854 posts)I haven't been to church in years, but I thank whatever powers that be for Pope Leo.
By the way, welcome to DU. Great people here!
NNadir
(38,214 posts)...in this case I admire the guy.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)oberle
(379 posts)whose stated religion is "whoever is paying the highest", and I love this Pope.
dalton99a
(94,625 posts)ChicagoTeamster
(1,056 posts)Talitha
(8,072 posts)Renew Deal
(85,262 posts)BumRushDaShow
(170,542 posts)he has to vociferously distinguish himself from the vile, craven, and blasphemous loons who have hijacked and infested our government.
I am waiting for 45 to threaten to revoke his U.S. citizenship and that could set off a holy war within this country (especially when you have fake Catholics like Vance and Holman, doubling and tripling down on insulting the titular head of the church they claim to be a part of).
NBachers
(19,485 posts)Martin Eden
(15,699 posts)For his murderous rampage, as a holy crusade.
Renew Deal
(85,262 posts)The blasphemy (in the eyes of the church) from these guys shouldn't go unanswered. They are saying that the Pope should stick to religion. When they invoke God to justify war and when they make genocidal threats, they are crossing the religious line (regardless of what you think about religion).
BumRushDaShow
(170,542 posts)But then fake Catholic loonybin Vance doubles down and commands that the head of the church that he supposedly "converted" to, should "be careful" when speaking about "religion".
He needs to be excommunicated post haste and it's time to bring out the exorcists.
Martin Eden
(15,699 posts)Their hypocrisy needs to be more prominent in the narrative of this story.
Trump and the Republican Party could not win elections without pandering to "conservative" Christians who are either too gullible to see these charlatans for what they are -- or are hypocrites themselves, flaunting their religiosity while rejecting the lessons of Jesus.
BattleRow
(2,544 posts)The military top brass from GWB era who stated that his god was bigger than Islams god?
Hoo,boy,Wikipedia has a very eye opening entry on him and his "Christian Nationalist" history.
Martin Eden
(15,699 posts)But Man created God in man's own image, so deities can be modified.
BattleRow
(2,544 posts)Much of the Christian Diominionist movement and its emergence among the DC power brokers was discussed in Jeff Sharlets "The Family" and Wayne Madsens " Christian Mafia".
Well worth a review .
Miguelito Loveless
(5,810 posts)by billionaires.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)Clouds Passing
(8,040 posts)callous taoboy
(4,795 posts)denvine
(863 posts)I love this Pope! With that type of teaching and moral compass, there is a slight, remote possibility I would be open to re-examining my aversion to organized religion. I'm an ex-Catholic!
ananda
(35,283 posts)but, at the same time, I don't throw out the baby
with the bathwater.
There are good aspects to every religion, particularly
the mysticism and the message of love and inclusion.
I'm Catholic to the core, but only as far as the mysticism,
love, and inclusion part... iow, the message of Christ.
I also like the mystical aspects of all the other religions.
PatrickforB
(15,469 posts)This Pope is speaking prophetically and using that bully pulpit to speak truth to power. While I realize the Catholic Church has many, many problems, Leo is using this prophetic voice as it should have been used for decades. Finally, we have a religious voice speaking about wealth imbalance and the evils of the military industrial complex.
ananda
(35,283 posts)Great language and messaging.
I love this Pope.
Hey Joe
(682 posts)We need people of power to speak the truth
against these horrors being inflicted upon innocent people everywhere!
Trump is being foolish, as usual, to lash out at the pope for simply doing his job and administering to his followers.
He simply cant stand anyone getting more attention than him.
PatrickforB
(15,469 posts)Wednesdays
(22,794 posts)...my money is on Leo.
ck4829
(37,922 posts)ck4829
(37,922 posts)purr-rat beauty
(1,295 posts)...is they are tyrants
They pervert the law to their liking
You are a terrorist or a target if you barely disagree with them.
How do we rid us of this scum in a collectively acceptable way minimizing our own self-destruction?
thought crime
(1,649 posts)It isn't necessary to read between the lines or listen to insightful analysis. It doesn't really matter whether you are religious or what religion you follow or what country you are from or what ideology you prefer.
This is pretty basic. A Cocker Spaniel could figure this out.
mobeau69
(12,407 posts)Figarosmom
(12,398 posts)Sogo
(7,239 posts)calimary
(90,305 posts)He seems to understand that we humans (himself included) are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world.
RetiredParatrooper
(191 posts)Well said.
Response to BumRushDaShow (Original post)
bmichaelh This message was self-deleted by its author.
MorbidButterflyTat
(4,617 posts)Or a feud or anything other than a psychotic asshole whining like a baby because he doesn't like what the Pope says.
Piggy is pathologically insecure and insane and steals and destroys everything. I'd like to see someone report that.
LudwigPastorius
(14,823 posts)Yep, that's Trump all right.
twodogsbarking
(18,955 posts)Mea culpa, not.
BlueWavePsych
(3,384 posts)