Pope Leo has said he will continue to speak out against war after facing a torrent of criticism from US President Donald Trump, who described him as "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy" for his rebukes of the Iran conflict.
Speaking to reporters onboard the papal plane as he embarked on a 10-day tour to Africa, the Pope said he was not afraid of the Trump administration after the US President's scathing comments.
Pope Leo is to visit 11 cities and towns, travelling nearly 18,000km and taking 18 flights. After Algeria he is set to travel to Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
"I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems," said the pontiff.
"Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there's a better way," he added.
Mr Trump attacked the head of the Catholic Church in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night, saying he "does not want" a Pope who criticises him.
"Pope Leo is weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy," Mr Trump wrote. "I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon ... And I don’t want a Pope who criticises the President of the US because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, in a landslide, to do," he continued.
Pope Leo has emerged as a vocal critic of the Iran war, which has had far-reaching regional and global repercussions.
On Saturday, while the US and Iran met in Islamabad for negotiations that failed to yield an agreement, the pontiff was leading prayers at St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, where he called for an end to the war.
He described prayers for peace as "a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive".
"It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation – not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided," said the Pope in his address. "Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life," he added.
Last week, the pontiff criticised Mr Trump's threat to wipe out "a whole civilisation" in Iran as "truly unacceptable". The stark warning was followed by a fragile two-week ceasefire mediated by Pakistan that has largely held.
Mr Trump has responded to Pope Leo's criticism by saying he "should be thankful", claiming he only became Pope "because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump".
"If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican," wrote Mr Trump, adding that Pope Leo "does not sit well with me".
"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician," he said.
Four countries
The Pope has travelled with a mission "to help turn the world's attention to Africa", Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official and close adviser to the pontiff, told Reuters.
The Pope, 70, is undertaking one of the most complicated tours arranged for a pontiff in decades. He is due to meet Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune before addressing the country's political leaders.
More than 20 per cent of the world's Catholics live in Africa, Vatican statistics show. The three sub-Saharan nations the Pope is to visit have populations where more than half identify as Catholic. But Algeria is an overwhelmingly Muslim country with fewer than 10,000 Catholics among its population of 48 million. This is the first time the country hosts a Catholic pope.
The biggest event of the itinerary is likely to be in Cameroon on Friday, when the Vatican said about 600,000 are expected to attend Mass in the coastal city of Douala.
The Pope is expected to speak Italian, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish during the trip. After talks with Algeria's political leaders on Monday, he will visit the Great Mosque of Algiers – only his second visit to a mosque since becoming pontiff.
He will travel on Tuesday to Annaba, on Algeria's north-eastern coast, to visit the ruins of the ancient town of Hippo.
