On May 8, 1945, President Harry S. Truman announced in a radio address that Nazi Germany's forces had surrendered, stating that "the flags of freedom fly all over Europe" on V-E (Victory in Europe) Day.
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Pope Leo XIV is encouraging young people in Cameroon to resist the temptation to migrate and to stay at home and fight corruption. Leo delivered the twin messages during a meeting with students at the Catholic University of Central Africa. They're themes Leo has highlighted during his visit to Cameroon, the second leg of his four-nation African trip. He leaves Saturday for Angola, another country blessed with oil and other natural resources, but where a third of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day.
Pope Leo XIV has condemned the "handful of tyrants" exploiting Earth through war and greed. He delivered a peace message in Bamenda, Cameroon, amid a long-standing separatist conflict. Cameroonians celebrated his visit, hoping it will draw global attention to the violence affecting the region. Leo led a peace meeting with religious leaders, emphasizing the importance of interfaith efforts to end the conflict. He warned against using religion for military and economic gain, calling for a shift away from exploitation. The conflict has deep colonial roots, with thousands killed and displaced. Despite a temporary pause in fighting, peace talks remain stalled.
Pope Leo XIV is again emphasizing the need for peace and dialogue despite criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump. Leo spoke to journalists on a flight to Cameroon on Wednesday as he continues his Africa visit. Trump has criticized Leo for his stance on the Iran war. Trump has also posted and then deleted an AI-generated image of himself as Christ. Leo stressed the importance of unity and respect among different beliefs. He emphasized his visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers on the first stop of his tour as a symbol of peaceful coexistence.
Pope Leo XIV, a studious and soft-spoken cleric, and Donald Trump, an unapologetically bellicose politician, have long been on a rhetorical collision course. Now their disagreement over the war in Iran has escalated in unusual fashion. On social media, Trump said Leo was "Weak" and captive to the "Radical Left," even suggesting that Leo somehow owed his position to Trump. The pope has declared Trump's threats toward Iran "truly unacceptable" and pointed his flock to biblical text and church doctrine on war and peace. It's a spectacle involving the world's two biggest megaphones.
President Donald Trump is refusing to apologize to Pope Leo XIV after criticizing the pontiff's opposition to the war in Iran. Trump told reporters Monday that he wasn't sorry for responding to Leo's public comments. Trump lashed out at the pope on Sunday night in both a social media post and to reporters after disembarking Air Force One. Leo responded by saying that the Vatican's appeals for peace and reconciliation are rooted in the Gospel and that he doesn't fear the Trump administration. On Monday, Trump also sought to explain away a now-deleted social media post depicting himself as Jesus by saying he thought it showed him as a doctor.
Donald Trump is accustomed to criticism from coast to coast — Democrats, disaffected Republicans, late-night comedians, protesters. Yet Trump's most influential American critic doesn't live in the country but at the Vatican. The first American pope has directly assailed the American president over the war in Iran. Pope Leo XIV declared that Trump's belligerence was "truly unacceptable." Never before has the relationship between Washington and the Vatican revolved around two Americans — a 79-year-old politician from Queens and a 70-year-old pontiff from Chicago. They come from the same generation and share some common cultural roots yet bring jarringly distinct approaches to their positions of vast power. And the relationship comes with risks for both sides.
Pope Leo XIV has carried a wooden cross at the Colosseum to mark his first Good Friday as pontiff. This is the first time in decades a pope has carried the cross to every station of the Way of the Cross. Speaking earlier, Leo emphasized the importance of spiritual leadership and carrying the world's suffering in prayer. Thousands gathered to follow the stations recited over loudspeakers. The meditation, prepared for Leo's first Good Friday, highlighted the responsibility of those in power.
Pope Leo XIV is embarking on his first foreign trip. His pilgrimage to Turkey and Lebanon would be delicate under any circumstances but is even more fraught given Mideast tensions and the media glare that will document history's first American pope on the road. Leo is fulfilling a trip Pope Francis had planned to make. In Turkey, he'll mark an important anniversary with the Orthodox church. In Lebanon, he'll try to boost a long-suffering Christian community and country still demanding justice from the 2020 Beirut port blast. Leo, who spent 12 years as the global superior of his Augustinian religious order and two decades as a missionary in Peru, says he loves to travel. In recent weeks he has shown diplomatic dexterity in answering questions on the fly from reporters.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have visited the Vatican to pray with Pope Leo XIV. This historic meeting aims to strengthen ties between the Church of England and the Catholic Church. The event on Thursday marked the first time since the Reformation that the heads of these two churches have prayed together. The visit comes amid renewed scrutiny of the British royal family over Prince Andrew's ties with Jeffrey Epstein. Charles' and Camilla's visit had been planned for earlier in the year but was rescheduled after Pope Francis's illness and death. The meeting included discussions on ecological sustainability, a priority for both Charles and the Vatican.
