Pope Leo XIV visits Angola slave trade site, recalls colonial suffering

The American pontiff became the first pope to pray at Muxima sanctuary, built by Portuguese colonisers as a baptism hub for enslaved Africans.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Muxima in Angola's Icolo e Bengo province, becoming the first pontiff to visit the site.³ The chapel, now the country's largest Catholic pilgrimage centre, was built by Portuguese colonisers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex that served as a hub in the transatlantic slave trade.¹

Speaking in Portuguese before the shrine's Madonna statue, Leo recalled that the location was "where, for centuries, many men and women have prayed in times of joy and also in moments of sorrow and great suffering in the history of this country."¹ Enslaved Africans were gathered at the site to be baptised by Portuguese priests before being forced to walk more than 110 kilometres north to the port of Luanda, where they were loaded onto ships bound for the Americas.¹

The American pope, whose own ancestors include both enslaved people and slave owners, led the recitation of the rosary at the whitewashed church with blue trim.¹³ The sanctuary became a major pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.¹ It now welcomes thousands of faithful annually, particularly in September during the traditional pilgrimage to Angola's patron saint.³

Pilgrims gathered outside the chapel during the private prayer service, which marked a key moment in the pontiff's four-day visit to Angola.²³ The visit, which concludes Tuesday with a departure for Equatorial Guinea, includes government-led infrastructure improvements at the sanctuary under President João Lourenço.³