Pope Leo XIV Lands in Angola, Says Debate With Donald Trump Is Not His Interest

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola after visiting Cameroon, landing in Luanda on Saturday as part of his 11-day tour of Africa, with the trip described as the third leg of his journey.

“Pope Leo says 'not in my interest at all' to debate Trump The pope spoke aboard the papal plane on his way to Angola”

ABC News

The Holy Father was welcomed by faithful in Luanda and was scheduled to meet with Angola’s president, João Lourenço, and deliver a speech immediately after landing.

ABC News

During his plane journey on Saturday, Pope Leo XIV said it was “not in my interest at all” to debate President Donald Trump about the US-Israeli war in Iran, while also insisting that his remarks reflect the broader Gospel message of peace.

The reporting tied the Angola stop to a wider itinerary, noting that Pope Leo XIV’s tour included stops in Algeria and Cameroon and that after Angola he would mark his last stop in Equatorial Guinea.

On Sunday, he was set to travel by helicopter to the village of Muxima, around 130 kilometres south-east of Luanda, where a 16th-century church built by the Portuguese is described as one of Africa’s most important pilgrimage sites.

The Euronews account also said a new basilica is currently being built in Muxima as part of a multi-million-dollar government project to turn the site into a major tourist destination.

The same report framed the visit against Angola’s recent history, saying Angola in 2002 emerged from a 27-year civil war that began after independence from Portugal in 1975, and that it is estimated more than half a million people lost their lives.

Euronews and Al Jazeera both described Pope Leo XIV’s Angola message as centered on peace and on the social and economic conditions shaped by Angola’s resource wealth.

Euronews said Pope Leo XIV calls for world peace and is expected to address corruption and exploitation in Angola, where it reported that despite vast fossil fuel reserves, “a third of the population lives below the poverty line.”

Al Jazeera

It also placed Angola’s economic profile in the context of international rankings and estimates, saying Angola is Africa’s fourth-largest oil producer, ranks among the world’s top 20, and is the world’s third-largest producer of diamonds, while the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population was living on less than €1.83 a day.

Al Jazeera reported that at an open-air Mass on Sunday in Kilamba, near Luanda, Pope Leo urged Angolans to overcome “divisions” and “corruption,” and said he addressed the country’s civil war-scarred past, describing it as bringing “enmity and division, squandered resources and poverty”.

The Al Jazeera account also said Pope Leo spoke out against “suffering” and social and environmental “disasters” caused by the rampant exploitation of natural resources.

In parallel, Al-Monitor (via Reuters) described the Mass as attended by an estimated 100,000 people and quoted Pope Leo urging Angolans to “build together a country where old divisions are overcome once and for all, where hatred and violence disappear.”

The Reuters-based report also described the pope’s broader Africa-tour theme, saying he decried the exploitation of natural resources and blasted “despots and tyrants” who “guarantee wealth but do not deliver on their promises.”

Multiple outlets described Pope Leo XIV’s effort to separate his Africa trip from his public dispute with President Donald Trump, with several accounts quoting the pope directly aboard the papal plane.

“Pope urges Angola to overcome divisions at Mass attended by 100,000 people By Yesim Dikmen and Joshua McElwee KILAMBA, Angola, April 19 (Reuters) - Pope Leo urged Angolans on Sunday to overcome divisions after decades of bloody conflict in an address to an estimated 100,000 people who flocked to a Mass in a dirt field near the capital Luanda”

Al-Monitor

Euronews said that during his plane journey on Saturday he told reporters it was “not in my interest at all” to debate President Donald Trump about the US-Israeli war in Iran, and that he set the record straight by insisting that not everything he says was directed at Trump but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

CNN similarly reported that Pope Leo said Saturday “it’s not in my interest” to debate Trump, and quoted him explaining that “a certain narrative” had been fostered by the “political situation” created by Trump’s attacks on him.

OSV News provided a longer verbatim exchange, quoting Pope Leo saying, “there has been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all its aspects,” and adding that “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.”

OSV News also quoted the pope’s specific example about timing, saying, “The talk that I gave at the prayer meeting for peace a couple of days ago was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting.”

Vatican News likewise quoted Pope Leo saying the prayer-meeting speech “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the President ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting,” and repeated that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the president.

Across these accounts, the pope’s message to journalists was that the trip’s purpose was peacebuilding and pastoral accompaniment rather than a personal contest with the U.S. president.

The accounts of Pope Leo XIV’s Angola events emphasized the scale of attendance and the tone of his messages to the faithful, while also placing the Masses within the country’s post-war context.

Al Jazeera reported that Pope Leo addressed tens of thousands of faithful near Angola’s capital during a landmark open-air Mass on Sunday in the town of Kilamba on the outskirts of Luanda, urging the country to overcome “divisions” and “corruption.”

CNN

It said he told the crowd that Angola’s civil war-scarred past has brought “enmity and division, squandered resources and poverty,” and it quoted him urging, “Today, there is a need to look to the future with hope and to build that hope. Do not be afraid to do so.”

Al-Monitor (via Reuters) described the Mass as attended by an estimated 100,000 people and quoted the pope calling Angola a “beautiful yet wounded country,” while urging Angolans to “build together a country where old divisions are overcome once and for all, where hatred and violence disappear.”

Reuters-based reporting also described the logistics and atmosphere, saying believers began arriving before dawn at Kilamba and that by the time the Mass began, “throngs of people filled the site, dancing and shouting as Leo drove through in his white popemobile.”

Sister Christina Matende appeared in both accounts as a witness to the Mass’s arrival, with Al Jazeera quoting her saying, “The pope coming here is a joy,” and Al-Monitor quoting her as arriving about 6am (05:00 GMT) and saying, “We are living in a moment of a lot of difficulties, and we are waiting for the blessing of the pope.”

In addition to the Mass, Al Jazeera described the pope’s next movements from Kilamba, saying he was to travel 110km (70 miles) by helicopter to Muxima, where a 300-year-old church overlooks a river once a major slave-trading route, and it said the church draws roughly two million pilgrims a year.

Beyond the pope’s speeches, the reporting captured how Angolans and Catholic communities were reacting to his presence and to the broader political context surrounding his comments.

“Pope Leo XIV on Saturday downplayed his feud with US President Donald Trump over the Iran war, saying his remarks have been misinterpreted”

DW

The Washington Post described Josephine García and her friends waiting in Luanda airport parking lot for a glimpse of Pope Leo XIV, with García saying the first American-born pope was their “father in faith,” and that he stood for “peace and unity — in Angola and everywhere.”

DW

The same account said Catholics expressed love and admiration for Pope Leo XIV but “not so much for President Trump because of the war in Iran,” tying local sentiment to the pope’s stance on the conflict.

Al Jazeera and Al-Monitor both emphasized that the pope’s message was aimed at social cohesion and governance, with Al Jazeera saying he urged the country to overcome “divisions” and “corruption” and with Al-Monitor quoting him calling Angola “beautiful yet wounded.”

Al-Monitor also reported that the pope decried the “suffering” and social and environmental “disasters” caused by exploitation, and it included his remarks to political leaders about “despots and tyrants” who “guarantee wealth but do not deliver on their promises.”

Looking ahead, Al Jazeera said the pope was then due to travel more than 800km (497 miles) from the capital to visit a retirement home in Saurimo, where he would celebrate another Mass before departing for Equatorial Guinea.

OSV News added that Pope Leo told journalists aboard the papal plane that he “primarily come[s] to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church to be with and to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany, all of the Catholics throughout Africa,” reinforcing that the next stages of the trip were framed as pastoral engagement.