{"id":48494,"date":"2026-04-20T18:04:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48494"},"modified":"2026-04-20T18:04:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T18:04:33","slug":"pope-leo-decries-exploitation-by-worlds-authoritarians-during-angola-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=48494","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo decries exploitation by world’s ‘authoritarians’ during Angola trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pope Leo lamented during an event in Angola on Monday that many \u200cpeople in the world were being “exploited by authoritarians and defrauded by the rich”, the latest example of a forceful new speaking style he has adopted on his four-nation Africa tour.<\/p>\n

The first US pope, who has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump with his more \u200boutspoken comments, told worshippers at a Mass in Saurimo, near the Democratic Republic of Congo border, that \u200bviolence and oppression went against the Christian message.<\/p>\n

“Every form of oppression, violence, exploitation and \u2060dishonesty negates the resurrection of Christ,” said the pontiff, referring to the core belief of Christianity that Jesus \u200brose from the dead after being crucified.<\/p>\n

His visit to Angola marks the third leg of an ambitious 10-day Africa tour, \u200bone of the most complicated ever conducted by a pope, with stops in 11 cities and towns in four countries, traversing nearly 18,000 kilometres over 18 flights.<\/p>\n

Read More: A new, forceful Pope Leo steps onto the world stage<\/p>\n

Leo, who became the head of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church last May, kept a relatively \u200blow profile in the first 10 months of his papacy but has issued forceful denunciations of war and \u200binequality during his Africa tour.<\/p>\n

He has also repeatedly criticised world leaders, without naming individuals.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the 70-year-old pontiff decried the exploitation of \u200cnatural resources \u2060in Africa by “despots and tyrants”. Last Thursday,\u00a0he said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”.<\/p>\n

The pope told journalists on Sunday that his speeches during the tour were written weeks ago and not aimed directly at Trump. He has strongly criticised the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, which began on February 28.<\/p>\n

Enthusiastic crowds<\/p>\n

Crowds in Angola, \u200bwhere 80% of the population \u200bidentifies as Christian, and \u2060about half of them as Catholic, have been enthusiastic for Leo, with people lining streets along his routes and dancing and screaming to greet him.<\/p>\n

Two events on Sunday, \u200ba Mass attended by throngs in a dirt field and a prayer at a \u200bsite that \u2060was once a hub for transatlantic slavery, drew roughly 130,000 people.<\/p>\n

Monday is Leo’s last full day in Angola. He heads on Tuesday to Equatorial Guinea, the final leg of his Africa tour.<\/p>\n

He will give a speech there to the country’s \u2060political leaders \u200bafter meeting with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been \u200bin power since 1979, making him the world’s longest-serving president.<\/p>\n

Equatorial Guinea is widely criticised as one of the most repressive countries in the region. \u200bThe government denies allegations of human rights abuses and corruption.<\/p>\n

Pope Leo downplays feud with Trump<\/p>\n

Leo sought to downplay his feud with Trump, saying reporting about comments he has made so \u200bfar during his Africa tour “has not been accurate in all its aspects”.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters \u200cin English aboard his flight to Angola, he said comments he made two days earlier in Cameroon, decrying that the world was being “ravaged by a \u200bhandful of tyrants”, were not aimed at Trump.<\/p>\n

Also Read: ‘Handful of tyrants’ ravaging world: Pope<\/p>\n

That speech, said Leo, “was prepared two weeks ago, \u200bwell before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of \u2060peace that I am promoting”.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance, who had criticised the pope’s remarks last week, \u200bwelcomed his latest comments.<\/p>\n

I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this. While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict\u2013and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen\u2013the reality is often much more complicated.<\/p>\n

Pope Leo preaches the gospel, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/SxWCKyhDSj
\n\u2014 JD Vance (@JDVance) April 18, 2026<\/p>\n

“I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this,” Vance posted on social \u200bmedia platform X. “While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict \u2014 and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen \u2014 the reality is often much more complicated.”<\/p>\n

https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/116394704213456431<\/p>\n

On Sunday, as Leo prepared to embark on his tour, Trump called him “weak\u00a0on \u200bcrime, and terrible for foreign policy” in a post on Truth Social. Trump also posted an \u200bAI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure, drawing widespread criticism even from some religious conservatives who typically \u200csupport him. \u2060The post was removed on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Trump appeared to be responding to Leo’s growing criticism in recent weeks of the US-Israeli war against Iran.<\/p>\n

Leo told Reuters on Monday that he would keep speaking out about the war, and Trump reiterated his criticism on Tuesday.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo lamented during an event in Angola on Monday that many \u200cpeople in the world were being “exploited by authoritarians and defrauded by the rich”, the latest example of a forceful new speaking style he has adopted on his four-nation Africa tour. The first US pope, who has drawn the ire of President Donald […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}