Pope Leo says world 'being ravaged by handful of tyrants' after Trump attacks

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Thursday 16 April 2026 13:24 BST


Pope Leo has said that the world is being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” amid a deepening row over the war in Iran with US President Donald Trump. Speaking on a visit to Cameroon, the pontiff blasted leaders who spend billions on wars in unusually forceful remarks.

Leo, the first American pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a "decisive change of course". "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, yet the resources needed for healing, ​education ⁠and restoration are nowhere to be found." The pontiff sharply criticised leaders who invoked religious themes to justify wars, saying: “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.”

He said the world had “turned upside down” and that said that it is an “exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and ‌rejected by every honest conscience.” Leo has emerged as an outspoken critic of Trump’s war in Iran, which has sparked fighting across the Middle East and a global economic crisis.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pope-leo-trump-truth-social-attack-b2958952.html

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Hear!! Hear!!

[Lovie777]

2. He is correct.....................

[FakeNoose]

3. The Pope is speaking the truth here

[ck4829]

4. K&R

[Irish_Dem]

5. Psychopaths rule the world now and are destroying it.

Pope Leo is fighting the good fight.

[Irish_Dem]

6. Are you allowed to fall in love with a pope?

Good fighting evil every day.
Wow.

[peppertree]

14. Fun fact: St. Francis' best friend, was named Leo

[Irish_Dem]

61. St. Francis is my favorite saint.

He is the source of the best prayer of all times:

The Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

[ck4829]

43. Hope so

[NNadir]

7. I rather like his rhetoric.

[ck4829]

44. As do I

[BeyondGeography]

8. The NYT headline is 'Blessed Are the Peacemakers,' Pope Says Amid Standoff With Trump'

No mention of tyrants in their account.

It’s enough to piss me off.

[BumRushDaShow]

22. This article was from the UK version of The Independent's reporting

and it finally trickled over to their US version site.

[ck4829]

45. Ugh... NYT

[not fooled]

73. Good 'ol NYT

They (almost) never miss an opportunity to soft-pedal and downplay criticism of the madness and evil of this regime

[Scrivener7]

9. I love him more every day. And I turned away from the church with the disgust that only a person with

16 years of Catholic education can feel.

[hlthe2b]

10. The advantage of this American Pope--no euphemism or cynical nuance gets past him.

Stay, safe, Pope Leo. These greedy crazies are dangerous too.

[Talitha]

17. Dangerous indeed. They wouldn't think twice.

[ck4829]

46. Seconded

[sop]

11. Trump will not allow the Pope's words to go unanswered, we can expect several hundred unhinged Truth Social

screeds over the next few hours/days. At some point Trump and his henchmen will threaten to arrest Leo, possibly even have him killed. We've been here before:

'Behind a Nazi Plot to Seize the Pope'

(NPR) "In September 1943, the tide of the war was turning against the Nazis, and a secret plan to kidnap — and possibly kill — Pope Pius XII was under way."

"Adolf Hitler, whose mental condition was deteriorating, feared the Pope would speak out about Nazi actions against the Jews, and ordered his SS leader in Italy, Gen. Karl Wolff, to carry out the deed."

https://www.npr.org/2007/06/17/11096772/behind-a-nazi-plot-to-seize-the-pope

[Midnight Writer]

21. He is removing Federal grants to Catholic Charities. That shows the depth of His moral clarity.

His reaction to every criticism is to prove the criticism is not only accurate, but understated, bigly.

[ck4829]

47. Showing the world just how petty he is

[Justice matters.]

59. And "proudly" brags about it in all available media.

Especially, his LieSocial.

[Bayard]

35. trump's mental condition is deteriorating worse than Hitler's

The Pope is stating the obvious that everyone knows.

[ck4829]

48. For real

[FarPoint]

12. I think the Pope need to expand his platform as his message is true.

People within these aggressive countries don't want these dictators....The Pope can help them rise up....Just my opinion... we need someone to do this task.

[Grim Chieftain]

13. Pope Leo is just the pope the world needs at this time

Divine intervention?

[oldinmtdem92]

20. im not religous

but i really like pope Leo.

[Grim Chieftain]

23. Same here

I haven't been to church in years, but I thank whatever powers that be for Pope Leo.

By the way, welcome to DU. Great people here!

[NNadir]

29. I'm an atheist with lots of problems with Catholicism but...

...in this case I admire the guy.

[ck4829]

49. Hmm... perhaps

[oberle]

68. I'm a church organist

whose stated religion is "whoever is paying the highest", and I love this Pope.

[dalton99a]

15. Kick

[ChicagoTeamster]

16. He should have named them but the world knows who he's talking about.

[Talitha]

18. K&R

[Renew Deal]

19. This is happening because Trump and the republican party decided to argue with the Pope

[BumRushDaShow]

24. And as the first "AMERICAN" Pope

he has to vociferously distinguish himself from the vile, craven, and blasphemous loons who have hijacked and infested our government.

I am waiting for 45 to threaten to revoke his U.S. citizenship and that could set off a holy war within this country (especially when you have fake Catholics like Vance and Holman, doubling and tripling down on insulting the titular head of the church they claim to be a part of).

[NBachers]

67. And he's from that Democrat Hellhole Chicago!

[Martin Eden]

28. Pope Leo may have felt the need to speak up when Hegseth appropriated God and Jesus

For his murderous rampage, as a holy crusade.

[Renew Deal]

31. It is the right thing to do.

The blasphemy (in the eyes of the church) from these guys shouldn't go unanswered. They are saying that the Pope should stick to religion. When they invoke God to justify war and when they make genocidal threats, they are crossing the religious line (regardless of what you think about religion).

[BumRushDaShow]

34. "They are saying that the Pope should stick to religion."

But then fake Catholic loonybin Vance doubles down and commands that the head of the church that he supposedly "converted" to, should "be careful" when speaking about "religion".

He needs to be excommunicated post haste and it's time to bring out the exorcists.

[Martin Eden]

37. Quite right. Politicians and generals should stay in their lanes, and not invoke God to justify their actions

Their hypocrisy needs to be more prominent in the narrative of this story.

Trump and the Republican Party could not win elections without pandering to "conservative" Christians who are either too gullible to see these charlatans for what they are -- or are hypocrites themselves, flaunting their religiosity while rejecting the lessons of Jesus.

[BattleRow]

64. Does anyone remember William Boykin?

The military top brass from GWB era who stated that his god was bigger than Islams god?

Hoo,boy,Wikipedia has a very eye opening entry on him and his "Christian Nationalist" history.

[Martin Eden]

65. I thought the God of Abraham includes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

But Man created God in man's own image, so deities can be modified.

[BattleRow]

66. Well,Boykin was and still is a piece of work.

Much of the Christian Diominionist movement and its emergence among the DC power brokers was discussed in Jeff Sharlets "The Family" and Wayne Madsens " Christian Mafia".
Well worth a review .

[Miguelito Loveless]

25. Tyrants bankrolled

by billionaires.

[ck4829]

50. Yep. The worst of the worst.

[Clouds Passing]

26. I stand with Pope Leo on the side of healing, education, restoration.

[callous taoboy]

27. Pope Leo!

[denvine]

30. I am not a religious man but damn,

I love this Pope! With that type of teaching and moral compass, there is a slight, remote possibility I would be open to re-examining my aversion to organized religion. I'm an ex-Catholic!

[ananda]

33. I hear you. I will never be into any organized religion...

but, at the same time, I don't throw out the baby
with the bathwater.

There are good aspects to every religion, particularly
the mysticism and the message of love and inclusion.

I'm Catholic to the core, but only as far as the mysticism,
love, and inclusion part... iow, the message of Christ.

I also like the mystical aspects of all the other religions.

[PatrickforB]

39. I have not attended any church for decades, but am a devout follower of Christ.

This Pope is speaking prophetically and using that bully pulpit to speak truth to power. While I realize the Catholic Church has many, many problems, Leo is using this prophetic voice as it should have been used for decades. Finally, we have a religious voice speaking about wealth imbalance and the evils of the military industrial complex.

[ananda]

32. That speaks for me!

Great language and messaging.

I love this Pope.

[Hey Joe]

36. Good for him!

We need people of power to speak the truth
against these horrors being inflicted upon innocent people everywhere!
Trump is being foolish, as usual, to lash out at the pope for simply doing his job and administering to his followers.
He simply can’t stand anyone getting more attention than him.

[PatrickforB]

38. I love this Pope!!!!!!!!! n/t

[Wednesdays]

40. In a battle of wits between The Felon and The Pope,

...my money is on Leo.

[ck4829]

42. Me too.

[ck4829]

41. Kick

[purr-rat beauty]

51. The problem with tyrants...

...is they are tyrants

They pervert the law to their liking

You are a terrorist or a target if you barely disagree with them.

How do we rid us of this scum in a collectively acceptable way minimizing our own self-destruction?

[thought crime]

52. It's pretty clear who the Good Guy is in this "feud"

It isn't necessary to read between the lines or listen to insightful analysis. It doesn't really matter whether you are religious or what religion you follow or what country you are from or what ideology you prefer.

This is pretty basic. A Cocker Spaniel could figure this out.

[mobeau69]

53. Hey traitor, to paraphrase Colonel Nathan R. Jessep, you fucked with the wrong pope.

[Figarosmom]

54. "Darkness and filth" is a very good description of trump himself.😐

[Sogo]

55. Lapsed Catholic here....Loving this Pope!

[calimary]

57. Another lapsed Catholic here. Rather fond of this Pope!

He seems to understand that we humans (himself included) are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world.

[RetiredParatrooper]

56. He sounds American, alright

Well said.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

60. I really wish the stupid media wouldn't characterize what's happening as a damn "row"

Or a feud or anything other than a psychotic asshole whining like a baby because he doesn't like what the Pope says.

Piggy is pathologically insecure and insane and steals and destroys everything. I'd like to see someone report that.

[LudwigPastorius]

62. "darkness and filth"

Yep, that's Trump all right.

[twodogsbarking]

63. Well yeah. Infringing on papal territory.

Mea culpa, not.

[BlueWavePsych]

69. Kick

[Zertz11]

70. His brother John had bomb threat yesterday

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/new-lenox-police-investigate-bomb-threat-at-pope-leo-xivs-brothers-home-in-illinois/3923661/?media_id=3876659435783923502_63265609167&media_author_id=63265609167&ranking_info_token=GCBkODkwNjlkZmE1OGU0YWE0YTliZjFiYjBiODFiM2M4YVgTMzg3NjcwNjgwNDE0NzgxMTQ3NygDc2N1AA%3D%3D&utm_source=ig_text_feed_profile#

[Cha]

71. TY & Pope Leo XIV!

Leo, the first American pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a "decisive change of course". "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.

[OldBaldy1701E]

72. With all due respect, Your Holiness, that has been going on for centuries.

The rich always take advantage of the poor.

Always. It is nothing new.

It is the complacency (and delusion, let's not sugarcoat this) of enough of the masses to allow him and his ilk the chance to act like leeches that created this mess.

Maybe we need to address that issue?

(Like that would ever happen.)