LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Pope Leo XIV is in Angola, his third stop in Africa, where the Catholic Church is rapidly growing. The trip was overshadowed, though, by attacks from the Trump administration over the war in Iran. But the first American pope tried to downplay the tensions, as NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu reports.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) Alleluia. Alleluia.
EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: One of the largest gatherings ever of Catholics in Angola. A crowd estimated at more than 100,000 people attended an open air mass with Pope Leo in Kilamba, just outside of the capital Luanda. Many slept out in the open in anticipation of Leo's visit to the Central African country, where nearly half of its 39 million people are Catholic. And during the Mass, Pope Leo echoed a familiar message.
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POPE LEO XIV: (Non-English language spoken).
AKINWOTU: He called for an end to war and suffering. But later in remarks to journalists, he sought to diffuse what has widely been seen as a war of words with President Trump.
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LEO XIV: There's been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but...
AKINWOTU: He said some of his statements had been interpreted as a response to unprecedented attacks by President Trump.
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LEO XIV: The talk that I gave at the prayer meeting for peace a couple of days ago was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on - at myself and on the message of peace that I am promoting. And 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.
AKINWOTU: On the eve of the Pope's Africa tour, President Trump denounced Leo as weak on crime and foreign policy in response to the pope's criticisms of the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't think he's doing a very good job. He likes crime, I guess.
AKINWOTU: But in the last part of his first visit to Africa, with the last stop in Equatorial Guinea, Leo sought to recenter his message on the influence of Africa's rapidly growing population on the church and its future.
Emmanuel Akinwotu, NPR News, Lagos.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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