Leo arrived in resource-rich Angola on Saturday on the third leg of a whirlwind four-nation African tour on which he condemned the plunder of the continent’s resources – and had a high-profile spat with US President Donald Trump.
Authorities said 100,000 people turned out for the Mass at Kilamba, around 30 km from the capital, some sleeping on the ground overnight in anticipation.
After pushing through the crowds in his popemobile, Leo delivered a message of hope for the country still marked by a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002.
“We too can and want to build a country where old divisions will definitively be overcome, where hatred and violence will disappear, where the scourge of corruption will be healed by a new culture of justice and sharing,” he said.
On arriving 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.
Angola is one of Africa’s top oil and diamond producers but around a third of the population of 36.6 million people live in poverty, according to the World Bank.
“We are very rich in natural resources but there is a glaring inequality between those who live well and the others,” said Patricio Musanga, 32, before the Kilamba Mass.
“The pope must call our leaders to account. I believe that at least he will be listened to by the authorities,” he told journalists.
On Monday, Leo will travel 800 kilometres east of Luanda to Saurimo, the capital of a marginalised region that is home to the country’s largest diamond mine.
He leaves Angola on Tuesday for Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of an 18,000-kilometre journey that began in Algeria. (AFP)
