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TRANSCRIPT
The Pontiff has just wrapped up an extensive tour of Africa, travelling through four different countries across the span of 11 days.
The continent has the fastest growing Catholic population, with Africans accounting for 20 percent of the world's faithful.
Leo’s trip has been part of a broader outreach focused on strengthening the Church’s presence in Africa while also addressing social challenges including poverty, inequality, and the need for peace.
But on his return to Rome, it was the Middle East that Pope Leo XIV referenced, talking of a child in Lebanon in his broader message of unity and peace.
"I carry with me a photo of a Muslim child who, during my visit to Lebanon, was standing there holding a sign that said 'Welcome, Pope Leo,' and in this latest phase of the war he was killed. There are many human situations like this, and I believe we must have the ability to think in this way. And as a Church, I say again: as a pastor, I cannot be in favour of war. I would like to encourage everyone to make efforts to seek answers that come from a culture of peace, not of hatred or division.”
In his farewell remarks at a final Mass in Equatorial Guinea's capital of Malabo. Pope Leo said he had left Africa with "an immeasurable treasure of faith, hope and charity"
On the last day of his tour in Equatorial Guinea, he braved a heavy rainstorm to greet crowds after speaking at a prison where inmates cried out for freedom.
Equatorial Guinea has been run since 1979 by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the world's longest-serving president, and has been widely criticised as one of the most repressive countries in the region.
Pope Leo later called on the government to treat prisoners with more respect.
“The light of charity, nurtured in our homes and lived out in faith, can truly transform the world—including its structures and institutions, so that every person feels respected and no one is forgotten. Sisters and brothers, let us together make this a firm resolution, a joyful commitment, so that Christ, the Crucified and Risen One, the light of Equatorial Guinea, of Africa, and of the entire world, may guide us all toward a future of hope.”
In Angola, the Pontiff prayed to the Marian Shrine of Mama Muxima.
The shrine was where captured Africans were forced to be baptised as Catholics before being trafficked to the Americas during the Atlantic Slave Trade era.
The Pontiff, who is of Louisiana Creole background, has ancestors who were both victims and profiteers of the slave trade.
On the Cameroon leg of his visit, the Pope visited the city of Bamenda, which lies at the heart of the country's 10 year long separatist conflict.
The Pontiff highlighted the interfaith movement calling for peace in the region
He attended a meeting involving a Mankon traditional chief, a Prebysterian moderator, an Imam and a Catholic nun at the Saint Joseph Cathedral where he urged them to embrace peace.
"Jesus told us 'Blessed are the peacemakers'! But 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.”
In Algeria, the Pontiff prayed at the Great Mosque of Algiers, one of the largest Mosques in the world, in an expression of interfaith solidarity.
The country has an estimated 9,000 Catholics, and is the birthplace of Augustine of Hippo, the founder of the order of which Pope Leo himself is a member.
But that visit, and international coverage overall, has been overshadowed by US President Donald Trump's remarks about Pope Leo, who has consistently called for a peaceful end to the War in the Middle East.
"All people, from conception to natural birth, their lives should be respected and protected. So, when a regime, when a country takes decisions which takes away the lives of other people unjustly, then obviously that is something that should be condemned.”
Such statements have infuriated President Trump, who attacked the pontiff on social media, calling him "terrible" and saying he was 'weak on crime'.
The Pope says his comments were not aimed at President Trump - and that he was focussed on his central message of peace.
Algerian Toufik Talbi said there was no reason for President Trump's anger towards the Pontiff.
"Why is he attacking him? He is asking for peace, so why attack him? People who ask for peace are attacked; on the contrary, people should be happy about it, not attack him. We want peace, not violence. This is it.”
But despite the political debate sparked by the Pope's comments, overall the pontiff's visit has sparked excitement across the African continent, where his message of unity and reaching for the common good has resonated.
Equatoguinean Father Mangue said his presence was deeply meaningful.
“This visit is very important for us because the Pope is not just a father to us, he is our spiritual father. So, he comes to reassure us that we are not orphans. We are children, and he is our father. In our suffering, he suffers with us, and in our joy, he rejoices with us. His blessing is meant to bring the family together, so that we may once again be one family, as God has called us to be.”
