Pope Leo XIV prays at Angolan shrine built on slave trade site

The pontiff visited the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, where enslaved Africans were baptised before forced marches to Luanda's port.

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday led prayers at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Muxima in Angola, becoming the first pontiff to visit the country's primary Catholic pilgrimage site.² The visit occurred during a four-day papal tour of Angola that concludes Tuesday.²

The sanctuary, located in Icolo e Bengo province approximately 110 kilometres south of Luanda, sits at a site with historical ties to the Atlantic slave trade.¹ Portuguese colonisers built the Church of Our Lady of Muxima at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex along the Kwanza River.¹ During Portugal's colonial rule, the site functioned as a hub where enslaved Africans were gathered and baptised by Portuguese priests before being forced to walk to the port of Luanda for transport to the Americas.¹

The sanctuary gained its current status as a pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.¹ Thousands of faithful visit annually, particularly in September during the traditional pilgrimage to Angola's patron saint.²

Speaking in Portuguese at the whitewashed church with blue trim, Leo recalled the site as a place "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 The pope, whose own ancestry includes both enslaved people and slave owners, presided over the recitation of the rosary during the ceremony.¹²

The sanctuary is currently undergoing infrastructure improvements directed by the government of President João Lourenço, described as part of efforts to preserve national spiritual and cultural heritage.²