Pope Leo decries world ravaged by tyrants amid war of words with Trump

BAMENDA, Cameroon — Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after US President Trump attacked him again on social media.Leo, the first U.S. pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a “decisive change of course” in a meeting in the biggest city in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, where a simmering conflict going back nearly a decade has left thousands dead.“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.”‘A WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN’Trump’s attacks on Leo, first launched on the eve of the pope’s ambitious four-country tour of Africa and repeated late Tuesday, have caused dismay in Africa, where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live.Leo, who kept a relatively low profile for most of his first year as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the war that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.On Thursday, the pontiff sharply criticized leaders who invoked religious themes to justify wars.“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.“It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience.”The pope made similar remarks last month, saying God rejected prayers from leaders with “hands full of blood,” in comments widely interpreted as aimed at U.S.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has invoked Christian langua...