{"id":115800,"date":"2026-04-19T11:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=115800"},"modified":"2026-04-19T11:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T06:04:12","slug":"pope-leo-iv-i-am-in-africa-to-encourage-catholics-not-to-debate-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/?p=115800","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo IV: I Am In Africa To Encourage Catholics, Not To Debate With Trump."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Flight To Angola; April 2026<\/strong>: On his flight to Luanda, Angola, the third leg of his Apostolic Journey, Pope Leo XIV greets the journalists who have accompanied him in recent days and thanks Cameroon for its extraordinary welcome. He also clarifies that his speeches were prepared weeks in advance. They should not be interpreted “as if I was trying to debate again with the President, which is not in my interest at all”, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo XIV gave a positive assessment of the three days just spent in Cameroon, a country that \u201crepresents the heart of Africa in many different ways, both English-speaking and French-speaking, and around 250 local languages\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when on the first day of the trip the President of the United States made some comments about me\u201d, Pope Leo said. He was referring to accusations that U.S. President Donald Trump had directed at him at the beginning of the week, to which the Pope had already responded during the flight departing from Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the US President, alongside Vice President JD Vance had continued in the following days with comments criticising the Pope, for Pope Leo, the matter was already closed from the first day. Hence his remark to journalists – \u201cMuch of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said\u201d, Pope Leo XIV stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example is the important speech delivered at the Prayer Meeting for Peace on April 16. In that speech, the Pope have explained, \u201cwas prepared two weeks ago, well before the person had ever commented on me and on the message of peace that I am promoting. And yet as it happens, it was viewed as if I was trying to debate again with the President, which is not in my interest at all\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he did on the outbound journey, Pope Leo reiterated his mission: \u201cI primarily come to Africa as pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church, to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all of the Catholics throughout Africa\u201d. The visit also has other dimensions, and the Pope mentioned in this regard the \u201cvery fine meeting\u201d he had with a group of imams at the Apostolic Nunciature in Yaound\u00e9. He emphasised the need to \u201ccontinue to promote – as we’ve done in other places already and as Pope Francis has done during his pontificate – dialogue, promotion of fraternity, understanding, acceptance, peace-building with people of all faiths\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pope also expressed satisfaction with yesterday\u2019s meeting at the Catholic University of Central Africa, where he blessed a \u201cbeautiful monument\u201d featuring a map of Africa with Saint Augustine at the center. This sculpture, he explained, \u201cexpresses part of what this Church is about\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his greeting, the Pope also addressed the pressing issue of the \u201cunequal distribution of wealth\u201d found across the African continent. Cameroon, in particular, he noted, is a country that is rich in opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Angola, a journey that continues: \u201cWe continue proclaiming the Gospel message\u201d, said the Pope, highlighting the beauty of being Christian, \u201cof what it’s about to follow Christ, of what it’s about to promote fraternity, brotherhood, trusting in the Lord, but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world. Promote peace in our world\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the only Cameroonian journalist present on the papal flight, Charles Ebune of Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV), Pope Leo XIV expressed his gratitude to all the people of Cameroon: \u201cfor the wonderful welcome, the great enthusiasm, the joy of the people. It was absolutely fantastic. The experience of the faith community people who really discovered in the shared enthusiasm; how wonderful it is to experience what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to celebrate our faith together\u201d. The Pope expressed how \u201cvery happy\u201d he is \u201cto have had this experience\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSee you in Angola\u201d, finally, another word of gratitude to the approximately 70 journalists on board the plane: \u201cI’m very happy to greet all of you, and thank you for the work that you’re doing. I hope that the Lord will continue to bless all of us on this trip\u201d. The Pope concluded with a \u201cSee you in Angola!\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team Maverick<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Flight To Angola; April 2026: On his flight to Luanda, Angola, the third leg of his Apostolic Journey, Pope Leo XIV greets the journalists who have accompanied him in recent days and thanks Cameroon for its extraordinary welcome. He also clarifies that his speeches were prepared weeks in advance. They should not be interpreted …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":115801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[81],"post_format":[],"flags":[],"class_list":["post-115800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115800"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115800\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115802,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115800\/revisions\/115802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/115801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115800"},{"taxonomy":"post_format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_format&post=115800"},{"taxonomy":"flags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mavericknews30.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fflags&post=115800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}