The new US-born pope is on his first-ever visit to Cameroon's restive English-speaking northwest, and he's not turning the other cheek. "Blessed are the peacemakers! But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," Pope Leo XIV declared on Thursday in Bamenda.

Read morePope Leo blasts 'handful of tyrants' ravaging world during Cameroon visit

The message was the same when he landed on Wednesday in Yaoundé and while it may sound like a rebuttal to a critical US president who's an ocean away, it's also first a pointed message to the leader in the room hosting Leo: 93-year-old Paul Biya, only the second head of state Cameroon has known since independence from France in 1960.  

We ask our panel what makes the Bamenda leg of the pope's four-nation tour of Africa historic, about the separatist rebels who called a four-day truce during the visit, and how the Church can help in a nation where half the population is under 18 and whose politics can feel like a ticking time bomb, with zero visibility surrounding Biya's succession.

We also ask how, less than a year after succeeding Francis, this pope is faring under fire from Donald Trump and Catholic conservatives, and whether his message resonates among the faithful in an age of wars, growing inequality and artificial intelligence.

In the face of stiff competition from evangelical churches, the direction of the world's largest organised religion in the 21st century is at stake.

Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.