Pope says ‘tyrants’ speech was not aimed at Trump42 minutes agoMaia DaviesEPA/ShutterstockPope Leo has said he was not seeking to debate Donald Trump when he criticised “tyrants” for spending billions on wars in a speech earlier this week.The pontiff said the remarks, delivered days after a high-profile spat with the US president, had been written a fortnight earlier – “well before the president ever commented on myself”. The Pope, who is on a tour in Africa, said that a “certain story that is not accurate” has developed. He cited “the political situation” created by Trump’s remarks. The masters of war pretend to not know that it only takes a moment to devastate, yet a lifetime often is not enough to reconstruct,” he said. He had posted his lengthy criticism of Pope Francis after the pontiff voiced concerns about Trump’s threats that “a civilisation would die” if Iran refused to agree to US demands of ending the war and opening the Strait of Hormuz. The president said he “was not a fan” of Pope Francis and called him “WE Trump posted an AI-generated picture of himself, which depicted him as a Jesus like figure. He later removed it. The Catholic leader’s Africa Tour includes stops in eleven cities across four different countries. This is his second major overseas visit since he was elected as papacy in last year. It reflects the importance that Catholicism has in Africa.
