Pope Leo XIV has arrived in Angola, marking the third leg of his 11-day, four-nation tour of Africa. After celebrating a morning Mass before an estimated 200,000 people in Yaounde, Cameroon, the Pope's plane touched down at Luanda's international airport. The visit is highly significant for the country's large Catholic community, which makes up around 40% of the population.
On the first day of his visit on Saturday, Pope Leo adopted a forceful speaking style to denounce the logic of extractivism. He criticized the social and environmental disasters linked to the exploitation of natural resources in the oil- and rare-earth-rich nation, which has been marked by decades of exploitation of its vast resources.
On Sunday, the Pope urged Angolans to overcome divisions and move beyond a war-scarred past following decades of bloody conflict. Speaking to an estimated 100,000 people who gathered for a Mass in a dirt field near the capital of Luanda, he addressed hopes for peace and the economic woes facing the country.