Pope Leo XIV urges Angola to overcome divisions in Mass for 100,000
The pontiff condemned resource exploitation and called for reconciliation during the third leg of his four-nation African tour.
Pope Leo XIV urges Angola to overcome divisions in Mass for 100,000
The pontiff condemned resource exploitation and called for reconciliation during the third leg of his four-nation African tour.
Pope Leo XIV urged Angolans to overcome divisions stemming from decades of conflict in an address to an estimated 100,000 people at a Mass in Kilamba, near the capital Luanda, on Sunday23. The event marked one of the largest gatherings of his four-nation African tour24.
The pontiff called Angola, which experienced a 27-year civil war from 1975 to 2002, a "beautiful yet wounded country"234. He urged Angolans to "build together a country where old divisions are overcome once and for all, where hatred and violence disappear"23.
Believers began arriving before dawn at the site, a sprawling housing complex, braving hot and humid conditions23. By the time the Mass began, throngs filled the area, dancing and shouting as Leo drove through in his white popemobile23. Sister Christina Matende, who arrived around 6am, said the pope's visit was "a joy" at a time of "a lot of difficulties"23.
At the conclusion of the Mass, Leo decried the recent escalation in the Ukraine war, calling "for the weapons to fall silent and for the path of dialogue to be followed"234. He also praised the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon as a "reason for hope"23.
The pope later travelled by helicopter to the Catholic shrine in Muxima, about 130 kilometres southeast of Luanda, where roughly 30,000 additional people gathered4. The shrine was built as part of a 16th-century Portuguese fortress at the heart of the transatlantic slave trade4. Leo did not reference the site's history but called on Angolans to build a peaceful, more just world4.
On Saturday, upon arriving in Angola, Leo had sharply criticised the exploitation of natural resources in Africa, blasting "despots and tyrants" who guarantee wealth but fail to deliver, leading to suffering and deaths9. He lamented that "powerful interests lay their claim" on Angola's oil and diamond sectors9, stating that "how much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism"9.
Vice President Esperança da Costa and First Lady Ana Dias Lourenço attended the Sunday Mass7. Angola is one of the leading oil-producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but more than 30% of its 36.6 million people live on less than $2.15 per day, according to the World Bank8. More than half the country identifies as Catholic8.