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YAOUNDE: Pope Leo said on Wednesday that the world needs to hear a message of peace and coexistence, after US President Donald Trump attacked him for a second time this week on social media.
Leo arrived on Wednesday in the Cameroon capital Yaounde, where Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute kissed his hand after he descended from the papal plane. The two men then walked down a red carpet lined with Cameroonian clergy in black robes and a brass band dressed in white. Women wearing fabric featuring Leo’s face crowded his car as it drove away from the airport.
Speaking on his flight from Algeria to Cameroon for the second leg of a whirlwind 10-day Africa tour, the first US pontiff urged respect for all people and said his travels so far had shown the importance of pursuing dialogue between different communities.
“Although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshipping, we have different ways of living, we can live together in peace,” said the pontiff, referring to his two days in mostly Muslim Algeria, where the Catholic Church is a small minority. “To promote that kind of image is something which the world needs to hear today.”
‘Examine conscience’
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday called on Cameroon’s authorities to examine their “conscience” and break “the chains of corruption” on the first day of a visit to the country.
After being welcomed by joyful crowds who lined the streets, the US-born pontiff gave his first address in an unusually direct tone to officials, including President Paul Biya, 93, who has led the central African country with a tight grip since 1982.
“Security is a priority, but it must always be exercised with respect for human rights,” the pope said in the presence of Biya, whose authorities cracked down on protests sparked by his disputed re-election for an eighth term in October.
“Public authorities are called to serve as bridges, never as sources of division, even when insecurity seems prevalent,” he added.
On Tuesday, several civil society groups condemned “an unprecedented period of repression” since the presidential polls. They also called for the release of political prisoners, some of whom are held with no legal basis.
Among the around 2,782 prisoners registered by the organisations, 2,630 have not been sentenced, Herve Nzouabet Kweto, from the NGO Source de vie (Source of Life), who signed the statement, said.
“It is time to examine our conscience and take a bold leap forward,” the pope said in his address. “In order for peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption must be broken,” he added. In response, Biya told the officials and diplomats assembled in the capital Yaounde that “the world needs the message of peace” brought by Leo.
‘Social peace’
On Biya’s watch, Cameroon has long been plagued by widespread embezzlement, ranking 142nd out of 182 on the Transparency International watchdog’s 2025 Corruption Index.
In recent years, the 93-year-old leader has multiplied his trips abroad, either for medical treatment or on holiday to a swanky Geneva hotel, where the opposition accuses him of splashing out vast sums of taxpayers’ money.
An international consortium of investigative journalists, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), in 2018 estimated the total length of his private stays abroad at 4.5 years over three-and-a-half decades, with a cost of $65 million.
He highlighted the role of “women’s and youth organisations, trade unions, humanitarian NGOs as well as traditional and religious leaders” in “weaving the fabric of social peace”.
He urged an end to the separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking northwest, where he will head for a visit on Thursday under tight security.
US leaders critical of pope
Trump, who attacked Leo as “terrible” on the eve of the pope’s tour, doubled down in a social media post late on Tuesday, despite widespread backlash from US Christians across the political spectrum.
Leo, who marks one year as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church in May, kept a relatively low profile for a pope in his first 10 months but in recent weeks has become an outspoken critic of the US-Israeli war with Iran.
The pope said on Monday that he planned to keep criticising the war, regardless of Trump’s comments. US Vice President JD Vance also said on Tuesday it was important for the pope “to be careful when he talks about matters of theology” when referring to conflict. The pope did not specifically address their comments on the flight on Wednesday.
He referenced the writings of one of his spiritual influences, St. Augustine of Hippo. He said the saint, who died in the year 430, had a vision “to seek for unity among all peoples and respect for all peoples, in spite of the differences”.
Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2026
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