Pope Leo: The World is Being Destroyed by a Few Tyrants

JAKARTA - Pope Leo described the current world as being destroyed by a handful of absolute rulers who often act brutally or arbitrarily, alias tyrants.

He slammed leaders who spend billions of dollars on war.

"[The world] is being destroyed by a handful of tyrants," Pope Leo said during his visit to Cameroon, Thursday, April 16, quoted by Reuters.

The head of the world's Catholic Church said this after being attacked again on social media by US President Donald Trump.

Leo, the first US-born pope, also slammed leaders and rulers who use religious language to justify war and urged a "decisive change of direction".

"The rulers of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, but often a lifetime is not enough to rebuild," the Pope said.

"They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and destruction, but the resources needed for healing, education, and recovery are nowhere to be found," he continued.

Pope Leo has been a vocal critic of the ongoing war in Iran, as well as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Earlier this week, Pope Leo was attacked by Donald Trump for his stance.

Trump said on social media that Pope Leo was "WEAK on crime, and bad for Foreign Policy".

Trump also uploaded a picture of himself as if he were the Pope, the result of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Then Leo on Thursday, April 16 in Cameroon, quoted from the Telegraph also said: "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the name of God himself for their own military, economic, and political gains, dragging the sacred into darkness and filth. This is a reversed world, the exploitation of God's creation that must be condemned and rejected by every honest conscience. "