On the flight from Cameroon to Angola, Pope Leo XIV stated clearly that he is not “trying to debate again the president” during his 11-day trip to Africa and added, “this is not in my interest at all.” 

In the light of what he has seen written in the press, he said he wished to correct “a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, 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.”

Leo has clearly been following what the media has said since Mr. Trump’s first attack on him at the start of the week and commented: “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said.” 

He was alluding to the fact that almost any statement he has made on this trip about war and peace since Mr. Trump first spoke has been read through the prism of a supposed ongoing debate between the pope and the president. Some journalists have sought to interpret his many words in an anti-Trump light, even though they were all written many days before the president made his statement on his social media. 

Pope Leo gave one example of such misinterpretation. Citing the speech he gave in Bamenda, Cameroon, on April 16, he said that the text “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the person [Mr. Trump] had ever commented on myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting.” And yet, he said, “as it happens it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all.”

He concluded: 

So we go on the journey. We continue proclaiming the Gospel message, and the text of the Gospel we’ve been using for the liturgies give a number of different 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, brotherhood, trusting in the Lord, but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world. Promote peace in our world.

He began his roughly five-minute statement by talking about the visit to Cameroon and said it “was very significant because it represents the heart of Africa in many different ways, both English-speaking and French-speaking, around 250 local languages, ethnic.”

But, he also said, Cameroon, despite its “great wealth, great opportunity,” faces a difficulty that plagues much of Africa: “an unequal distribution of wealth.”

Leo said he “was personally very pleased” that “we began the trip in Algeria with the theme of St. Augustine.” He alluded to a map of Africa that was presented to him at the Catholic University of Central Africa on Friday, which has St. Augustine at the center, and said that “it expresses part of what this church is about.”

He told the 70 journalists accompanying him on this trip, including America’s senior Vatican correspondent, “I primarily come to Africa as pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church, to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all of the Catholics throughout Africa.”

At the same time he acknowledged that “there are of course other dimensions to the visit.” He mentioned he had “a very fine meeting with a group of imams in Cameroon to promote, to continue to promote, as we’ve done in other places already and as Pope Francis has done and during his pontificate––the dialogue, promotion of fraternity, understanding, acceptance, peace-building with people of all faiths.”

Asked by a Cameroonian journalist to say something more about his visit there, Pope Leo said: “I’d just like to thank everyone in Cameroon for the wonderful welcome, the great enthusiasm, the joy of the people. It was absolutely fantastic.”

He said, “The experience of the faith community, people who really discovered in the shared enthusiasm, if you will, how wonderful it is to experience what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to celebrate our faith together.”

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

He thanked the journalists for their work on this trip and said “I hope that the Lord will continue to bless all of us on this trip.”

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.