Pope Leo XIV this week began an 11-day apostolic visit to countries in Africa, under the shadow of war in the Middle East.
During a ceasefire, a blockade was imposed on the Strait of Hormuz after negotiations between the United States and Iran failed to yield a peace agreement.
The pope responded to criticism from U.S. leaders as he spoke with journalists during his flight to Algeria strongly opposing war and urging peaceful solutions to conflicts.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the Church is here to do,” Pope Leo said.
“We are not politicians. We don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”
Vatican News’ director framed the pope’s visit to Africa in a missionary context with the central theme of peace during the current “dramatic hour of history.”
In Algeria: Message of Peace, Forgiveness
The pope’s message of peace to Africa, as he said in his first stop in Algeria, is rooted in forgiveness.
“I know how difficult it is to forgive,” Pope Leo said. “However, as conflicts continue to multiply throughout the world, we cannot add resentment upon resentment, generation after generation.”
His message underlay visits and talks with numerous groups and peoples in Algeria, including civic officials, with Catholic religious sisters of an Augustinian order, among Muslims in a mosque, and at an address to the Christians of predominantly-Muslim Algeria.
He also visited archaeological site of Hippo once walked by his spiritual father, St. Augustine, the fifth-century bishop and founder of the Augustinian order of which the pope is a member. He later celebrated Mass at the basilica of the saint’s name.
The pope capped his visit to Algeria by visiting elderly residents of a senior facility run by the Little Sisters of the Poor (who also operate a similar home in Philadelphia), and returned to the theme of peace.
“God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice, and lies,” he said. “But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud.”
In Cameroon: Strides to Peace, Warning to ‘Masters of War’
Peace was on the minds of combatants in Cameroon, where separatists announced a pause in hostilities while Pope Leo visited that country.
Upon landing he told civic leaders that peace “must be embraced and lived,” and it “must not be reduced to a slogan.”
The pope visited the Archdiocese of Bamenda in Cameroon for prayer and a meeting on the theme of peace with religious leaders, tribal chiefs, and suffering families displaced by war in the country.
He commended the strides made toward peace and reconciliation, expressed gratitude for women’s care for those traumatized by violence, and warned of the “masters of war” who pretend not to acknowledge that “it only takes a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild.”
“Woe to those who manipulate religion for military or political gain,” he added.
During Mass in the city’s cathedral, the pope commended the joyful and vibrant liturgies as signs of “your trusting surrender to God, of your unshakeable hope and of your clinging … to the love of the Father,” while also acknowledging the human suffering that results from unjust resource extraction in the country.
“The time has come, today and not tomorrow, now and not in the future, to restore the mosaic of unity by bringing together the diversity and riches of the country and the continent” to build a society based on peace and reconciliation, Pope Leo said to applause.
He later met with young people and with Muslim leaders in Cameroon.
Just War Theory, Support for Lope Leo Reiterated
Elsewhere, war and the teaching of the Church came into focus this week.
Public comments by American leaders prompted the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ chairman on doctrine to issue a clarification of the Church’s just war theory and to reiterate the Holy Father’s role of not offering an opinion when he speaks, but in preaching the Gospel as the Vicar of Christ.
Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez was among numerous bishops who released statements of support for Pope Leo and his continued calls for peace.
Vatican News reviewed the history of contemporary popes on the subject of war, and in particular on nuclear weapons.
On Democracy and Morality
In a statement prepared for a meeting of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Pope Leo addressed the topic of democracy, saying it “remains healthy only when rooted in the moral law.”
U.S. Cuts Miami Archdiocese’s Aid to Minors
This week the U.S. federal government announced a decision to eliminate funding for the Archdiocese of Miami’s services for unaccompanied minors of all nationalities, including thousands of children from Cuba. The decision, which ends a 60-year relationship with the Church, was decried by Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenski in a statement.
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