Pope criticises 'tyrants' who spend billions on wars after Trump spat — BBC News

[0:00] In unusually forceful political remarks, Pope Leo has said the world is being ravaged by a [0:06] handful of tyrants. Addressing a crowd during his visit to a region of Cameroon ravaged by a [0:12] separatist insurgency, the head of the Roman Catholic Church condemned the people who he said [0:17] had manipulated the very name of God for their own gain. The extraordinary comments come amid a spat [0:23] President Trump has had with the Pope, President Trump calling Pope Leo weak on crime. Let's have [0:30] a listen to the Pope. The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, [0:38] yet often a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild. They turn a blind eye to the fact [0:47] that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, [0:54] education and restoration are nowhere to be found. The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, [1:03] yet is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters. [1:09] Let's bring in our global religion reporter, Lebo Di Seco. These are, as I said, unusually [1:15] forceful comments from a Pope and in the context of some quite forceful stuff coming the other way [1:20] from Washington. Yeah, and they have just been, or Pope Leo has just been backed up, as it were, [1:27] by the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the third biggest Christian denomination of the world, [1:32] Sarah Mullally, who said, I stand with my brother in Christ, his holiness, Pope Leo XIV, in his courage [1:40] to call for a kingdom of peace. Now, the context of this, you did kind of explain this earlier in your [1:47] introduction. He was speaking in the capital of the northwest part of Cameroon, where there has been [1:53] an insurgency for about 10 years, which has killed thousands and thousands of people. [1:59] So he was addressing a service there, a crowd of people there. And you could say that, you know, [2:06] some of the things he said related to that. But it comes after a week of, you know, back and forth [2:12] with the Trump administration and Donald Trump himself, we saw at the start of the week, lashing [2:17] out at Pope Leo in an extraordinary fashion. Pope Leo has been very critical of war in general [2:26] and spoken out quite vociferously about the war, the conflicts that we see at the moment. He, [2:33] in his Good Friday address, said that leaders that, you know, kind of promote war, push war, [2:41] won't be blessed. And then we saw his Easter Sunday sermon used to call for peace again. So [2:48] this is kind of a ratcheting up of the tensions. We also had J.D. Vance, the vice president of the [2:58] United States, a recent convert to Catholicism, saying that Pope Leo should be careful when it [3:05] comes to speaking about doctrine. [3:06] Yeah, careful about his theology. Quite extraordinary advice for a politician to give the Pope. [3:14] What was interesting about the juxtaposition of Pete Hegseth talking about the war in the last hour [3:20] was that he was giving us this sermon or recounting his sermon from church on Sunday, which he'd taken [3:27] from the book of Mark at the very time that the Pope was warning leaders should stop using religious [3:33] language to justify their wars. And this is really the problem that a lot of Catholics in the United [3:38] States have been pointing to, that they're invoking God to justify their actions. [3:44] Yeah, I think with Pete Hegseth, Pete Hegseth is actually not a Catholic. He's an evangelical [3:49] Christian or he, that's the church that he would, or the, I guess, denomination that he falls under. [3:56] But I think there is a broader issue of the use of religious symbolism, religious language in talking [4:05] about the war by the Trump administration, which for many Christians, Catholics and, you know, [4:10] Christians more widely, is really antithetical to the teachings of the Bible. So I think it being [4:17] used in this way is quite difficult for a lot of Christians. My colleague Aline McBull has reported [4:24] extensively on this yesterday, hearing from Catholics in America who were saying, look, [4:29] this is just actually not done and it's not okay. And maybe the criticism level stings a bit more [4:35] for Donald Trump, because here is an American who actually, when you look at polling, is much higher [4:40] in the approval ratings than he is and is widely respected. Well, Donald Trump claimed earlier on in [4:47] the week that he was responsible for Pope Leo's election as the head of the Catholic Church. I think a [4:52] number of figures within the Catholic hierarchy. I thought it was God who chose the Pope. [4:57] Well, I mean, I think they would say they were led by the movement of the Holy Spirit. So, I mean, [5:04] Donald Trump has been a roundy kind of criticised for that statement, but I think it is difficult. [5:10] I think you have to remember that Donald Trump had a lot of support from evangelical Christians, [5:17] but also a lot of Catholics, white Catholics in particular, lean Republicans. So, this is a core [5:26] part of his support base. Certainly, the Christian vote is important to him and he doesn't seem to be, [5:34] you know, endearing himself to them or to many parts of that voting bloc this week. [5:40] Lebo Di Secco, our global religion reporter. Thank you very much. Certainly, some huge crowds [5:45] that are coming out for the Pope on his visit to Cameroon. There you can see some of the [5:51] congregation. But it will be fascinating to watch some of the reaction in Washington to [5:55] the comments we've had from Pope Leo today, which, although he didn't mention President Trump by name, [6:01] certainly you can't miss the inference of what he was saying. You're watching BBC News.