“There has been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all its aspects.”
From OSV News:
Pope Leo XIV pushed back against the media narrative that has pitted him against President Donald Trump since the start of his 11-day apostolic journey to Africa, telling journalists aboard the papal flight to Angola April 18 that “there has been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all its aspects.”
“Because of the political situation created when on the first day of the trip, the President of the United States made some comments about myself, much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary trying to interpret what has been said,” Pope Leo said aboard the papal flight from Yaoundé, Cameroon, to Luanda, Angola.
“Just one little example: 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. And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not in my interest at all,” he said.
The pope underlined to the roughly 65 journalists aboard the papal plane, including major TV networks and newspapers from around the world, “I primarily come 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.”
Pope Leo was speaking in response to the media storm in the United States with a narrative of “Trump versus Leo” ever since the U.S. president lashed out at the pope on social media and in verbal remarks over the pontiff’s opposition to the Iran war over the course of several days starting April 12…
…As Pope Leo presided over a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon, which has been afflicted by violence in a conflict between separatists and government forces since 2017, some media outlets ran headlines that made it appear as if Pope Leo’s comments to the suffering Cameroonian community were directed at Trump.
Reuters reported on the pope’s peace event, “Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was ‘being ravaged by a handful of tyrants’, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday days after U.S. President Donald Trump attacked him on social media.”
The New York Times ran the headline about the same peace meeting on April 16, “‘Woe to Those Who Manipulate Religion,’ Pope Says Amid Standoff With Trump.’”
The article stated, “Amid a growing dispute with the Trump administration over the legitimacy of American attacks in Iran, Leo used a speech on Thursday in Cameroon to express ‘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.’”
Pope Leo clarified to journalists aboard the papal plane that his speeches were written two weeks ago, long before Trump’s comments.
