YAOUNDE, Cameroon (AP) — Pope Leo XIV wrapped up his go to to Cameroon on Saturday with a Mass and regarded forward to Angola for the third leg of his four-nation African odyssey.
Leo celebrated Mass on the Yaounde Airport for hundreds of individuals, together with President Paul Biya — at 93 the world’s oldest chief. The jostling, joyful ambiance underscored the enjoyment the third pope to go to Cameroon has introduced the previous French colony, the place round a 3rd of the inhabitants is Catholic.
Some individuals who struggled to stroll had been delivered to the Mass in wheelbarrows pushed by members of the family.
In his go to to Cameroon, Leo has sought to encourage especially young people to have hope regardless of senses of disillusionment, and he has demanded elites cease exploiting the land and its folks for revenue. It’s a message he’s anticipated to repeat in Angola.
A scarred Angola welcomes the pope
After the Mass, Leo was to fly to Luanda, the capital of the southwestern African nation, the place he was to fulfill with President Joao Lourenco and ship his first speech earlier than Angolan authorities authorities.
Angola, a southern African nation of round 38 million, gained independence from Portugal in 1975. However it nonetheless bears the scars of a devastating civil conflict that started straight after independence and raged on and off for 27 years earlier than lastly ending in 2002. Greater than half one million individuals are believed to have been killed.
The civil conflict was for years a Chilly Warfare proxy battle, with the US and apartheid South Africa backing one facet and the Soviet Union and Cuba backing the opposite.
“I wish to hear a message of peace, a message of reconciliation,” stated Luanda resident Sergio Jose. “I might additionally like to listen to good political messages and I might additionally like to listen to that the pope would additionally discuss concerning the upcoming elections in Angola.”
Angola in the present day is the fourth largest oil producer in Africa and among the many world’s prime 20 producers, in accordance with the Worldwide Power Company. It’s additionally the world’s third largest diamond producer and has important deposits of gold and extremely wanted important minerals.
However regardless of its assorted pure assets, the World Financial institution estimated in 2023 that greater than 30% of the inhabitants lived on lower than $2.15 a day.
In Cameroon, Leo had railed in opposition to the “chains of corruption” that had been hindering improvement, in addition to the “handful of tyrants” who had been ravaging the Earth with conflict and exploitation. He’s anticipated to lift related factors in Angola.
Late former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who led Angola for 38 years from 1979 to 2017, was accused of diverting billions of {dollars} of public cash to his household, largely from the nation’s oil income, as thousands and thousands struggled in poverty.
After Lourenco took over as president, his administration estimated that no less than $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated by dos Santos. Lourenco’s administration has vowed to crack down on corruption and has labored to recuperate funds allegedly stolen within the dos Santos period.
However critics word Angola nonetheless has deep issues with corruption and have questioned if Lourenco’s actions had been extra aimed toward political rivals in order to consolidate his energy.
A legacy of slavery awaits the American pope in Angola
Angola, on the southwest coast of Africa, was thought of to be the epicenter of the transatlantic slave commerce as a Portuguese colony. Greater than 5 million of the roughly 12.5 million enslaved Africans had been despatched throughout the ocean on ships departing from Angola, greater than every other nation, although not all them had been Angolans.
The spotlight of Leo’s go to to Angola is anticipated to be his go to Sunday to Muxima, south of Luanda. It’s a preferred Catholic shrine in a rustic the place round 58% of the inhabitants is Catholic.
The Church of Our Lady of Muxima was constructed by Portuguese colonizers on the finish of the sixteenth century as a part of a fortress advanced and have become a hub within the slave commerce. It stays a reminder of the inextricable hyperlink lots of of years in the past between Catholicism and the exploitation of the African continent.
Leo, historical past’s first U.S.-born pope, has Black and white ancestors who included each enslaved folks and slave homeowners, in accordance with genealogical analysis. He’s going to Muxima to hope the Rosary, in recognition of the positioning changing into a preferred pilgrimage vacation spot after believers reported an look by the Virgin Mary round 1833.
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Imray contributed from Cape City, South Africa.
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Related Press faith protection receives assist by the AP’s collaboration with The Dialog US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely accountable for this content material.
Nicole Winfield And Gerald Imray, The Related Press