After Trump spat, Pope Leo said he is not a politician. His Africa trip shows just that.

So far in Algeria and Cameroon, Leo has leaned into the moral vocabulary that has been rebuked by members of the Trump administration and that, in practice, lands squarely on political realities.

"Authorities are called not to dominate, but to serve the people and foster their development," he told government officials in Algeria, where power remains concentrated in the hands of the military-backed ruling elite.

He called on the government "to promote a vibrant, dynamic and free civil society, in which young people in particular are recognized as capable of helping to broaden the horizon of hope for all," a line echoing the 2019 protest movements throughout the country largely sparked by young people. The protests resulted in the resignation of Algeria's then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Two days later in Yaoundé, the pope stood alongside the 93-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya, who has had a chokehold on power in the Central African nation since taking office in 1982, and delivered a similarly pointed message.

Cameroon, considered one of the most corrupt countries in the world, must break free from the "chains of corruption which disfigure authority and strip it of its credibility," Leo said. He called for women's voices to "be fully recognized in decision-making processes" and that "hearts must be set free from an idolatrous thirst for profit."

In the coming days, the pope is expected to address the inequality in Angola that has kept more than 30% of the population in poverty despite the country's vast rare mineral and oil reserves. On the last leg of his trip, in Equatorial Guinea, he will confront President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979 and is accused of enacting fierce political repression and corruption.

Yet Leo said on the flight to Algeria that his messages "are not meant as attacks on anyone."

Whereas the pope's calls for peace have cast him as a political enemy in Washington, in Africa Leo has shared a stage with authoritarian leaders and, at their own invitation, admonished aspects of their governance.

It is precisely because the pope is not a politician that he can operate in such a way. A politician's visit to a country may be read as an endorsement of its policies, but Leo's trips show that he sees himself as a messenger of peace seeking to preach Gospel values to entire nations, including their civil authorities.

That mindset appears not to have computed for several U.S. political leaders eager to cast the pope's comments into an us-vs.-them political framing.

For his part, Leo has shown that he has no interest in launching political attacks. Instead, as he told reporters while departing for his trip, he is looking to preach "the message of the church, my message, the message of the Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers."