Pope Leo XIV, preaching to a cheering crowd of more than 120,000 at an open-air Mass in Douala on Friday, continued his forceful message of peace on the second leg of an 11-day Africa tour. The US-born pontiff urged those who traveled far to hear him: “Do not give in to distrust and discouragement. Reject every form of abuse or violence, which deceives with easy gains but hardens the heart and makes it insensitive.”
Delivering his homily in French, Leo urged Cameroonians to be “protagonists of the future.” As congregants waved Vatican flags and “branches of peace,” he spoke of conflict and greed in Africa, where people “hunger for peace, freedom and justice.” He was scheduled to visit a Catholic hospital in Douala on Friday afternoon before returning to Yaoundé to address university students and professors.
Leo has drawn attention recently after public attacks from US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, who criticized him after he condemned the folly of war and the misuse of religion to justify violence.
The pope also condemned the exploitation of Africa’s resources, criticizing “those who, in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it.” He urged Cameroon’s leaders to root out corruption and denounced abuses carried out in the name of maintaining civic order. Those remarks, delivered in the presence of President Paul Biya — who has ruled since 1982 — called for security to be exercised with respect for human rights. Biya’s forces violently quelled demonstrations after his reelection last October, killing dozens, critics say.
Africa’s growing importance to the Catholic Church featured in Leo’s outreach. With an estimated 290 million Catholics on the continent — about 20.3% of the Church’s 1.4 billion members — he directed encouragement to Cameroon’s youth, who face mass unemployment amid internal conflict and entrenched power. Earlier in the week he led an interfaith peace conference in Bamenda, the epicenter of a nearly decade-long separatist uprising that has killed thousands.
Archbishop of Douala Samuel Kleda, a prominent critic of President Biya within the clergy, expressed hope the visit might help resolve the country’s problems, urging Cameroonians to “commit ourselves as architects of peace.”
Leo will conclude his visit to Cameroon with a Saturday morning Mass. After visiting Muslim-majority Algeria and then Cameroon, the pontiff will travel to Angola and Equatorial Guinea before returning to Rome. Edited by: Wesley Dockery
