Pope Leo XIV called on Sunday for Angolans to fight corruption and “build hope for the future” as he opened a poignant day in his African odyssey that will take him to an epicentre of the African slave trade.
Leo celebrated Mass before an estimated 100,000 people outside the capital and again sought to encourage Angolans.
He denounced the exploitation of their mineral-rich land and people, who still bear the scars of a brutal, post-independence civil war.
“In this opening scene of the gospel I see reflected the history of Angola, of this beautiful yet wounded country, which hungers and thirsts for hope, peace, and brotherhood,” Leo said in his homily in Kilamba, a Chinese-built development about 25 kilometres outside the capital.
In front of Angolan authorities on Saturday, Leo already encouraged the country’s population, as he denounced the consequences of colonial plunder.
Later on Sunday, Leo was expected to celebrate the Rosary prayer at the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, an important Catholic shrine on the edge of the Kwanza River about 110 kilometres south of Luanda.
Leo’s arrival on Saturday in Angola, the oil-and-mineral rich former Portuguese colony, marked the third leg of his four-nation African voyage.
