LUANDA, (Angola): Tens of thousands of people attended a giant open-air mass by Pope Leo XIV outside the Angolan capital Sunday, where he delivered a message of hope to the resource-rich country marked by poverty and inequality.
Leo flew to Portuguese-speaking Angola on Saturday, the third leg of a whirlwind four-nation African tour on which he has condemned corruption and the plunder of the continent’s resources — and had a high-profile spat with US President Donald Trump.
Around 100,000 people attended the pontiff’s first mass in Angola at Kilamba, around 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Luanda, the Vatican said, citing local authorities.
The pope encouraged the crowd “to look to the future with hope” in a “new beginning” for the nation still scarred by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.
It was possible “to build a country where old divisions are overcome forever, where hatred and violence disappear, where the wound of corruption is healed by a new culture of justice and sharing”, Leo said.
After arriving on Saturday from Cameroon, Leo went straight into an event with Angolan President Joao Lourenco and other officials, where he spoke out against the “suffering” caused by poverty and the rampant exploitation of natural resources — continuing the assertive tone of his 11-day tour.
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