Cameroon Africa Pope
Faithful attend a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV in the Japoma Stadium, in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa.
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Pope Leo XIV is encouraging young people in Cameroon to resist the temptation to migrate and to stay at home and fight corruption. Leo delivered the twin messages during a meeting with students at the Catholic University of Central Africa. They’re themes Leo has highlighted during his visit to Cameroon, the second leg of his four-nation African trip. He leaves Saturday for Angola, another country blessed with oil and other natural resources, but where a third of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day.
Pope Leo XIV’s trip to Africa is so dizzying in its complexity it recalls some of the early globe-trotting odysseys of St. John Paul II. Themes Leo has raised during the four-country tour include Christian-Muslim coexistence, the exploitation of the continent's natural and human resources, corruption, migration and the legacy of colonialism. The 11-day trip began on April 13 in Algeria. That stop carries the most personal importance for Leo, given his ties to St. Augustine, the inspiration of his religious order who lived and died there. Leo has also traveled to Cameroon and Angola and is concluding his trip in Equatorial Guinea.
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