ON BOARD THE PAPAL PLANE – On his flight from Yaoundé to the Angolan capital of Luanda, Pope Leo XIV hit back against the media narrative that his speeches in Africa on peace are a response to recent attacks from United States President Donald Trump.

Speaking to the roughly 65 journalists on board his April 18 flight from Cameroon to Angola as part of his 11-day odyssey to Africa, the pope lamented that “there’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate” about the trip.

This false narrative, he said, came about “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.”

The reference is to a social media post by Trump Sunday night, the eve of Leo’s departure for Africa, criticizing the pope, saying among other things that he is “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy” due to the pontiff’s criticisms of the war in Iran and other recent U.S. policy moves.

Asked by reporters about the outburst, Leo responded mid-flight, saying he has “nothing to fear” from the Trump administration and intends to continue proclaiming the message of peace in the Gospels.

While in Africa, Pope Leo has delivered impassioned condemnations of corruption, war and the global arms trade, notably declaring that the world “is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” during a meeting for peace in the Cameroonian city of Bamenda, a flashpoint of the nation’s notorious Anglophone Crisis.

“Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary trying to interpret what has been said,” Leo told journalists, using his speech in Bamenda as an example.

That talk, he said, “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting. Yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not my interest at all.”

Speaking more broadly of his visit to Cameroon, which he had just concluded with a Mass in Yaoundé attended by some 200,000 people, the pope said his 3-day stop in the country was significant, “because in many ways it represents the heart of Africa.”

In addition to English and French, there are over 250 local languages and ethnicities present in Cameroon, he said, calling it a nation with “great wealth and great opportunity, but also the difficulty that we find throughout Africa of many times an unequal distribution of wealth.”

Leo said he was pleased to have begun his 10-day tour of Africa with a whirlwind trip to Algeria to honor Saint Augustine, the founder of his Augustinian religious order, and was happy to have been presented with a map of Africa with St. Augustine in the center during a meeting with university students and professors Friday.

“In one sense it expresses part of what this trip is about,” he said, saying he primarily came 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.”

“Of course there are other dimensions to the visit,” to the visit, he said, noting that he had a meeting with imams in Cameroon to continue the church’s efforts, including those of his predecessor Francis, to promote dialogue, fraternity, “understanding acceptance” and peacebuilding “for people of all faiths.”

Pope Leo also spoke of the various liturgies he has celebrated, having presided over a Mass almost daily during the visit.

The Gospel readings for each, he said, have touch on “fantastic, beautiful aspects of what it’s about to be Christian, of what it’s about to follow Christ, of what it’s about to promote fraternity and brotherhood, trusting in the Lord, but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world, to promote peace in our world.”

Leo then took a question from a Cameroonian journalist traveling on board the papal plane, saying he was grateful to the country “for the wonderful welcome and the great enthusiasm.”

“The joy of the people was absolutely fantastic. The experience of a faith community, people who really discovered in the shared enthusiasm how wonderful it is to experience what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to celebrate our faith together,” he said.

This enthusiasm “was very much present in Cameroon,” he said, adding, “I’m very happy to have had the experience and to accompany all of your people during these days.”

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen