Pope | Pakistan

Pope Leo sought to downplay his feud with US President Donald Trump on Saturday, saying reporting about comments he has made so far during his Africa tour “has not been accurate in all its aspects”. Speaking to reporters in English aboard his flight to Angola for the third leg of his ambitious 10-day Africa tour, the first American pope said comments he made two days earlier in Cameroon, decrying that the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, were not aimed at Trump. That speech, said Leo, “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting”. On Sunday, as the pontiff prepared to embark on his tour, Trump called him “weak on crime, and terrible for foreign policy” in a post on Truth Social. Trump also posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Jesus-like figure, drawing widespread criticism even from some religious conservatives who typically support him. The post was removed on Monday morning. Trump appeared to be resp...

Pope Leo has debuted a new, forceful speaking style on his four-nation Africa tour this week, issuing sharp denunciations of war and inequality that have sparked repeated attacks on the pontiff from US President Donald Trump. The change in rhetoric reflects Leo’s growing concern with the direction of global leadership, experts said, after he maintained a relatively low profile for a pope during the first 10 months of his papacy. Trump first attacked Leo as “terrible” on Sunday, in an apparent response to the pope’s criticisms of the US-Israeli war on Iran. He lobbed more criticism again on Thursday, suggesting the pope didn’t understand foreign policy issues. The first US pope, speaking earlier that day in Cameroon, had said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, without naming individuals. “Normally popes and the Vatican are cautious when it comes to international politics, preferring diplomacy to public censure,” said John Thavis, a retired Vatican correspondent who covered three papacies. “...

US President Donald Trump, whose war and immigration policies have been condemned by Pope Leo, reiterated his criticism of the religious leader on Tuesday night. In a post on Truth Social, Trump urged that “someone please tell Pope Leo” about the killings of protesters by Iran and that “for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable.” The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states with US bases. US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. Iran does not have nuclear weapons while the US does. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with nuclear weapons. While Western countries have long believed that Iran wants a nuclear bomb — or at least the ability to make one very quickly — Tehran has always denied that, citing its membership of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Trump’s comments come after Pope Leo warned earlier in the day of the risk of democra...

US President Donald Trump has criticised Pope Leo as “terrible” in a rare direct attack on the pontiff, who responded that he had “no fear” of the White House administration and would continue to denounce the horrors of war. The president’s comments came after the pope had spoken out, with growing force, against the US-Israeli war on Iran and the Trump administration’s immigration policies. “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late on Sunday. Trump later posted an AI-generated image depicting himself as Jesus, with the US flag and the Statue of Liberty in the background.’ ‘Someone has to stand up’, Pope says Pope Leo, the first pontiff from the US, responded on Monday by saying he would keep raising his voice against conflict, adding that the Christian message, rooted in the primacy of peace, was being “abused”. It is extremely unusual for a pope, who leads Catholics around the world, to answer a foreign leader publicly. “I will continue to speak ...

Pope Leo decried conditions for Palestinians in Gaza in his Christmas sermon on Thursday, in an unusually direct appeal during what is normally a solemn, spiritual service on the day Christians across the globe celebrate the birth of Jesus. Leo, the first US pope, said the story of Jesus being born in a stable showed that God had “pitched his fragile tent” among the people of the world. “How, then, can we not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold?” he asked. Leo, celebrating his first Christmas after being elected in May by the world’s cardinals to succeed the late Pope Francis, has a more quiet, diplomatic style than his predecessor and usually refrains from making political references in his sermons. But the new pope has also lamented the conditions for Palestinians in Gaza several times recently and told journalists last month that the only solution in the decades-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people must include a Palestinian state. Israel and Hamas agreed...

Leo, the first US Pope, spoke for 40 minutes with youth, taking faith questions and offering school advice

Pope Leo urged the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on Sunday to care for immigrants, pressing ahead with a message of welcome for migrants days after criticising US President Donald Trump’s hard-line anti-immigration policies. Leo, the first US pope, told thousands of pilgrims celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square that immigrants should not be treated with “the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination”. The pope, who did not single out any country for its treatment of migrants, called on Catholics to “open our arms and hearts to them, welcoming them as brothers and sisters, and being for them a presence of consolation and hope.” Pope talks of ‘new missionary age’ Leo had criticised the Trump administration’s immigration policies on September 30, questioning whether they were in line with the Catholic Church’s pro-life teachings, in comments that drew heated backlash from some prominent conservative Catholics. On Sunday, the pope said the global Church was experiencing “a new missionary age” in ...

Pope Leo on Saturday appointed a French archbishop as the new leader of the Vatican’s commission on clergy sexual abuse, in the US pontiff’s first public move to confront an issue that has damaged the global Church’s credibility. Thibault Verny, 59, will be president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors while also remaining the archbishop of Chambery in southeast France. The Vatican commission was created by Pope Francis in 2014 in an effort by the late pontiff to respond after sexual abuse scandals affected the Church in countries across the world. The scandals have damaged the Church’s standing as a moral voice, led to lawsuits costing millions in countries across the globe, and resulted in a number of resignations of bishops. Verny said he was committed to improving the Church’s safeguarding measures. “We will promote the […] equitable sharing of resources so that all parts of the Church, regardless of geography or circumstance, can uphold the highest standards of protection,” he said ...

Pope Leo criticised the emergence of nationalist political movements on Sunday, calling them unfortunate, without naming a specific country or national leader. Leo, the first pope from the United States, asked during a Mass with a crowd of tens of thousands in St Peter’s Square that God would “open borders, break down walls [and] dispel hatred”. “There is no room for prejudice, for ‘security’ zones separating us from our neighbours, for the exclusionary mindset that, unfortunately, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms,” said the pontiff. Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected on May 8 to succeed the late Pope Francis as leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church. Before becoming pontiff, Prevost was not shy about criticising US President Donald Trump, sharing numerous disapproving posts about him and Vice President JD Vance on X in recent years. The Vatican has not confirmed the new pope’s ownership of the X account, which had the handle ‘drprevost’ and was deactivated after Leo’s ele...

Pope Leo XIV formally began his reign on Sunday by reaching out to conservatives who felt orphaned under his predecessor, calling for unity, vowing to preserve the Catholic Church’s heritage and not rule like “an autocrat”. After a first ride in the popemobile before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square, Leo was formally installed as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign monarch of Vatican City at an outdoor Mass. Well-wishers in the crowd waved US and Peruvian flags, with people from both countries claiming him as the first pope from their nations. Born in Chicago, the 69-year-old pontiff spent many years as a missionary in Peru and also has Peruvian citizenship. Crowds chanted “Viva il Papa” (Long Live the Pope) and “Papa Leone”, his name in Italian, as his distinctive, open-topped popemobile weaved around St. Peter’s Square. Robert Prevost, a relative unknown on the world stage who only became a cardinal two years ago, was elected pope on May 8 after a short conclave of ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has received an invitation to attend the oath-taking ceremony of the new spiritual leader of Catholic Christians Pope Leo XIV, and has nominated two ministers to participate in the event, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected in a surprise choice to be the new leader of the Catholic Church earlier in the month, taking the name Leo XIV, becoming the first American pontiff. Last week, the newly elected Pope welcomed the ceasefire between Pakistan and India in his first Sunday message, the pontiff had said he was glad to hear of the recent Pakistan-India ceasefire and hoped negotiations would lead to a lasting accord between the nuclear-armed neighbours. According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, PM Shehbaz has nominated the Minister of State for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Kheal Das Kohistani, along with Punjab’s Minister for Minority Affairs, Ramesh Singh Arora, to attend the ceremony. They will represent Pa...