The pontiff also criticised leaders who use religious language to justify wars, calling for a “decisive change of course.”
BAMENDA: Pope Leo criticised leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday, days after US President Donald Trump attacked him on social media.
Leo, the first US pope, also condemned leaders who use religious language to justify wars, calling for a “decisive change of course” during a meeting in Bamenda, the largest city in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, where a long-running conflict has left thousands dead over the past decade.
“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, while the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.”
‘A world turned upside down’
Trump’s attacks on Leo, first made on the eve of the pope’s four-country Africa tour and repeated late Tuesday, have sparked dismay in Africa, where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live.
