In a half-day visit to the economic capital of Cameroon Friday, Pope Leo offered the local population an extended reflection on the just and equitable distribution of resources in a country notorious for corruption.

In his April 17 homily at Japoma Stadium in Douala, the pope framed his message in the context of the day’s Gospel reading recounting Jesus’s multiplication of the loaves and fish upon discovering there was not enough food to feed the hungry crowd gathered to hear him preach.

Seeing the problem of inadequate resources, he said, “Jesus asks us today, just as he asked his disciples then: How will you solve this problem? Look at all these hungry people, weighed down by fatigue. What will you do?”

“This question is posed to each one of us,” Leo said, saying it applies to families trying to make ends meet, as well as the pastors of the church and to “those who bear social and political responsibility for the people and seek their well-being.”

Every person, strong or weak, rich or poor, has the same hunger, and nourishment is necessary in order to live, he said, asking, “where is God in the face of people’s hunger?”

Jesus offers his own answer to this question when he took the loaves and fish, gave thanks to God, and distributed them among the crowd.

“A serious problem was solved by blessing the little food that was present and sharing it with all who were hungry. The multiplication of the loaves and the fish happened while sharing: that is the miracle,” the pope said, saying, “There is bread for everyone if it is given to everyone.”

There is enough bread for everyone, Pope Leo said, “if it is taken, not with a hand that snatches away, but with a hand that gives.”

He highlighted Jesus’s act of gratitude to God before performing the miracle, saying this is what made the food abundant.

“It was not rationed out of necessity. It was not stolen in strife. It was not wasted by those who gorge themselves in the presence of those who have nothing to eat,” but rather, passing from Jesus, to his disciples, and then to the people, “the food increased for everyone; indeed, it was superabundant.”

When the crowds immediately declaring Jesus to be a prophet, Jesus, Leo said, “did not use those words for personal gain. He did not want to become king, because he had come to serve with love, not to dominate,” but to serve the good of all.

Pope Leo spoke on his third day in Cameroon, which is part of a broader April 13-23 tour of Africa that began in Algeria, and which will also take him to Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

He will celebrate Mass in the capital city of Yaoundé Saturday before flying to the Angolan capital of Luanda.

A consistent appeal

Pope Leo, whose very name and magisterium so far are seeped in issues of social justice, spent over two decades as a missionary in Peru, serving in the country’s most impoverished regions in the north during a massive financial and political crisis, leading to terrorism and widespread social instability.

Throughout the nearly complete first year of his pontificate, Leo has condemned income inequalities and the unjust distribution of wealth, saying in an exclusive interview for this journalist’s biography of his life, Pope Leo XIV: The Biography, set for publication in English later this month, that employers now make around 600 times more than their employees.

In that interview, he questioned extreme wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, noting that last summer Elon Musk was declared the first trillionaire in the world, saying, “What does that mean and what’s that about? And if that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble. We have to talk about these things.”

Later, in a general audience Dec. 17, he condemned bloated, “out of control” investment portfolios of the extremely wealthy, while vast portions of the global population live in poverty.

“In the heart that true treasure is kept, not in earthly safes, not in large financial investments, which today more than ever before are out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation,” he said on that occasion.

Continuing to drive this point, this time speaking from a continent whose lands are notoriously exploited by foreign powers and extractive industries for resources while their populations live in poverty, indicates this will be a consistent major talking point for the American missionary pontiff.

A message to Cameroon

Pope Leo’s visit to Douala for Mass took him to the economic capital of Cameroon, which is currently afflicted by violent protests and paralysis over President Paul Biya’s disputed re-election last October.

Barricades, looting, and violent clashes with security forces have afflicted the city for the past six months, threatening the national economy and general social stability in a nation already gripped by violence amid the ongoing Anglophone Crisis.

One of central Africa’s largest ports, Douala has been the site of its own spat of violence as authorities resorted to forceful measures to quell protests against Biya’s election, and the population is still reeling.

Some Cameroonians feared the papal visit could lend support to Biya, 93, who has ruled since 1982 and is the world’s oldest head of state. Pope Leo met with Biya privately on his first day in Cameroon.

Cameroon, notorious for corrupt practices such as bribery, embezzlement, and nepotism, is rich in natural resources such as oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and minerals, which for decades have been pillaged by both large foreign firms and local elites.

Some 600,000 people were expected to turn out for the pope’s Mass in Douala; however, the crowds were notably smaller, perhaps due to extreme heat and tight security.

Catholics in Cameroon make up around a third of the population of 30 million, and play a fundamental role in the country’s social life. After Mass, the pope is set to visit Saint Paul’s Catholic hospital before returning to Yaoundé, where he will meet with university students and professors.

Equality as rooted in love

In his homily, symbolically delivered in both French and English, the pope said Jesus’s multiplication of the loaves and fish was done primarily as an act of love for the people, which is why it is seen as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.

“It shows us not only how God provides humanity with the bread of life, but how we can share this sustenance with all men and women who, like ourselves, hunger for peace, freedom and justice,” he said.

Each act of solidarity and forgiveness and every effort to improve one’s circumstances, he said, “becomes a morsel of bread for humanity in need of care.”

“Yet this alone is not enough,” he said, saying it must also be accompanied by acts of charity that feed the soul, forming the conscience and sustaining people “in dark hours of fear and amid the shadows of suffering.”

In this regard, Leo stressed the importance of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which he said, “does not merely revive a distant memory; it brings about a ‘companionship’ that transforms us because it sanctifies us.”

The Eucharist, he said, is “a proclamation of hope amid the trials of history and the injustices we see around us.”

“By becoming man to save us, he chose to share in the simplest and most everyday needs of humanity. Hunger thus speaks to us not only of our poverty but, above all, of his love,” he said.

Pope Leo urged attendees to remember this whenever they see someone who lacks life’s basic necessities.

“Through their eyes, the question that Jesus posed to his disciples is repeated: ‘What are you going to do for all these people?’” he said.

He cautioned that being a true witness to Christ and imitating his love for others implies facing certain difficulties and obstacles, “from without and from within us, where pride can corrupt the heart.”

The pope then offered a special message to young people, who make up the majority of the African continent, telling them to be “the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life to your neighbors.”

He told youth to provide others primarily “with the food of wisdom and deliverance from all that does not nourish them but rather obscures good desires and robs them of their dignity.”

In this regard, Leo lamented that despite Cameroon’s wealth of natural resources, “many experience both material and spiritual poverty.”

“Do not give in to distrust and discouragement. Reject every form of abuse or violence, which deceives by promising easy gains but hardens the heart and makes it insensitive,” he said.

Pope Leo likewise told youths not to let themselves “be corrupted by temptations that waste your energies and do not serve the progress of society.”

He noted that Jesus carried out his ministry in spite of threats, persecution and urged them to continue proclaiming the Gospel even amid difficulty, saying, “Christian proclamation changes our lives, transforming minds and hearts.”

“Proclaiming the risen Jesus means leaving signs of justice in a suffering and oppressed land, signs of peace amid rivalry and corruption, signs of faith that free us from superstition and indifference,” he said, closing his remarks.

Source: Crux

Pope Leo XIV is continuing his official visit to Cameroon after arriving in Yaounde on April 15, 2026, as part of an African tour that began in Algeria. He is expected in Douala on Friday, April 17.

The visit has prompted extensive security and logistical measures, particularly affecting traffic. In a radio statement issued on April 14, the governor of the Littoral region, Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, outlined arrangements in the economic capital. The pope’s programme includes a mass at the Japoma Sports Complex, followed by a private visit to Saint Paul Catholic Hospital.

A special traffic plan will be in place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to ensure security and facilitate movements. It will mainly cover the route from Douala International Airport to the Japoma complex, then to Saint Paul Hospital, before returning to the airport.

Significant restrictions are expected, with diversions and route changes. Drivers travelling to and from Edea must use the Dibamba–Japoma–Nkolmbong–Nyalla-Rails corridor, with options via Total Logbaba or PK 12.

For drivers from Bonaberi, alternative routes include the Deido roundabout, either through Ndokoti and Nyalla or via Bonamoussadi, Logpom and Logbessou. Residents of Douala’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts are also advised to use these bypass routes.

Authorities have designated crossing points at key locations, including the Nelson Mandela interchange and intersections at Billes, Ndogpassi and Yassa, to reduce disruption. Some areas will be completely closed to traffic to secure the papal motorcade. Traffic may also be temporarily halted during the mass before gradually returning to normal after the pope’s departure.

In Yaounde, where the pope began his visit, authorities also implemented a traffic plan. According to the national police, the measures aim to maintain order, security and smooth traffic flow. Some main routes have been restricted or temporarily closed, and residents were advised to avoid affected areas.

These measures are already affecting residents, who must contend with detours and disruptions. Despite this, the visit has raised strong interest among the faithful. For Cameroon, it carries religious, symbolic and diplomatic significance.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Cameroon on Wednesday where he delivered a masterclass on wielding authority legitimately to President Paul Biya, who consolidated his four-decade grip on power with a contested election last year that gave him an eighth term in office.

The Vatican had said fighting corruption in the mineral-rich central African country would be one of the themes of Leo’s visit, and the American pope didn’t hold back in addressing Biya and government authorities in an address at the presidential palace.

“In order for peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption — which disfigure authority and strip it of its credibility — must be broken,” Leo said. “Hearts must be set free from an idolatrous thirst for profit.”

Biya, who at 93 is the world’s oldest leader, sat passively as Leo read his speech in French. Cameroonian television halted its live feed for parts of Leo’s speech, but it wasn’t clear if technical issues were to blame.

The Vatican has made clear that Catholic social teaching disapproves of the types of authoritarian leaders that Leo is encountering on his four-nation African visit.

The highlight of Leo’s visit will be a “peace meeting” on Thursday in Cameroon’s northwest city of Bamenda, which has been plagued by separatist violence.

Pope calls for a ‘bold leap’

Biya has led Cameroon since 1982 and just Tuesday signed into law a bill that reintroduces the vice president position, a move the opposition says will further strengthen his grip on power.

Cameroon’s opposition has contested the result of the Oct. 12 election that secured another victory for Biya. His rival Issa Tchiroma Bakary claims to have won and has called on Cameroonians to reject the official result.

Leo told Biya that Cameroon needed to take “a bold leap forward” to impose transparency in public finances and integrate civil society organizations into the fabric of daily life.

Young people in general — and women in particular — had a vital role to play in bringing Cameroon into a new dawn, he said.

“Their commitment to education, mediation and the rebuilding of the social fabric is unparalleled and serves to curb corruption and abuses of power. For this reason, too, their voice must be fully recognized in decision- making processes,” Leo said.

The pope, who wrote his canon law dissertation on the wielding of authority by Augustinian religious superiors, cited St. Augustine on the correct role of political leaders that he said was relevant today.

“Those who rule serve those whom they seem to command; for they rule not from a love of power, but from a sense of the duty they owe to others,” he said, quoting Augustine.

He added: “From this perspective, serving one’s country means dedicating oneself, with a clear mind and an upright conscience, to the common good of all people in the nation.”

‘Light entering a dark room’

Cheering Cameroonians gave Leo a raucous welcome, the first pope to visit since Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. They lined the road into the capital Yaounde from the airport, two and three deep in places, dancing and waving palm fronds as the pope’s motorcade whizzed by.

Many women dressed in identical bright dresses and stood behind banners announcing the name of their parish, while billboards splashed posters of the pope and Biya under the banner “Land of Hope.”

Gerald Mambeh, a Catholic teacher in Yaounde, said the pope’s visit needs to spark genuine dialogue and accountability to achieve lasting peace.

“This visit feels like light entering a dark room … but peace will not come from symbolism alone,” said Mambeh. “In a country where many feel abandoned, his presence feels like God has not forgotten us. Let the pope hear this beyond the politics: Cameroonians are not asking for miracles, we are asking for fairness, dignity, and a future.”

‘Share in the national cake’

Cameroon has significant reserves of oil, natural gas, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds. The extractive sector accounts for nearly a third of the country’s exports, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

But rights groups and the Catholic Church say revenues from extraction rarely reach the rural and indigenous communities that live closest to mining and drilling operations, while foreign companies and a small national elite capture most of the profits.

Leo said such a status quo cannot remain.

“Transparency in the management of public resources and respect for the rule of law are essential to restoring trust,” he said. “It is time to examine our conscience and take a bold leap forward.”

Public official Angelica Ambe Mundi said she was touched by Leo’s message. After he finished, she stepped forward and gently touched his chair before pressing her hand to her chest. She then knelt in quiet reverence.

“He spoke about the even distribution of state resources… violence comes when people feel disgruntled, when they are marginalized,” she told The Associated Press.

For her, his words cut to the core of Cameroon’s unrest: “People get violent when they are hungry. To stop violence, every Cameroonian must feel they belong — and share in the national cake.”

Pause in fighting

English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017 with the stated goal of breaking away from Cameroon’s French-speaking majority and establishing an independent state. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

On the eve of Leo’s arrival, the English-speaking separatists announced a three-day pause in fighting to allow “safe travel” for his visit.

The Unity Alliance, which includes several separatist groups, said in a statement Monday that the pause reflects the “profound spiritual importance” of the pope’s visit and is intended to allow civilians, pilgrims and dignitaries to travel safely.

Biya, who has shunned dialogue with the English-speaking separatists, spoke of a world in need of tolerance and hope as a replacement for “the voice of arms.”

“The world needs the message of peace, justice, tolerance, forgiveness, and love that you embody,” he told Leo.

Source: AP

May the visit of Pope Leo XIV offer an opportunity to release prisoners held without trial. Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala expressed this wish during a press conference on April 9. “The Pope is coming to proclaim the Good News to us,” said Archbishop Kleda. “What is the Good News for us in Cameroon?” he asked. “It is peace. At this moment, we all need peace in Cameroon. With his visit, the Pope is inviting us all to be peacemakers,” he continued. “The Pope is coming to proclaim the Good News to us in Cameroon.” “Our country has experienced many crises, some of which are still ongoing,” the Archbishop emphasized, indicating that he was referring to the conflict in the English-speaking regions “The benefit we hope to gain from this visit is to engage (…) as peacemakers.”

 In addition to the crisis in the English-speaking regions in the north and south of the eastern part of the country, Cameroon is experiencing a deep economic crisis, to which Archbishop Kleda alluded when he stated: “Too many people are suffering, too many people are unemployed. After the Pope’s visit, we have the opportunity to show that we are capable of transforming our country.” Also worrying is the political situation following the unrest after the presidential elections last October, in which 92-year-old Paul Biya was re-elected for the eighth time as Head of State – an election marred by serious irregularities, according to the opposition and various external observers. Several people were arrested during the post-election demonstrations, particularly in Douala, which was the epicenter of the protests. Archbishop Kleda also referred to these people.

 “There was a crisis after the elections, resulting in the arrest of many people. Some of them have been released, but many are still in prison. Those imprisoned also include people who have never been brought to trial.” “This is an opportunity,” the Archbishop said, referring to the Pope’s visit, “to work to change this situation and do everything we can to secure the release of our brothers,” declared the Archbishop of Douala. Archbishop Kleda also referred to these people. “This is the fourth time the Pope has come to Cameroon. That is a special blessing,” said Archbishop Kleda, referring to the Pope’s previous visits to the country before Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope. “The fact is that we are not saints, that we have not succeeded in putting the Gospel into practice. The Pope’s current visit is a new opportunity for renewal and for ensuring that our society can live in peace,” the Archbishop emphasized. “This means that the common good, that is, the country’s resources, must be shared with everyone, according to the needs of each individual, as the Acts of the Apostles teaches us.” But to achieve this, it is necessary to fight corruption, which Archbishop Kleda described as “a huge problem” because “it destroys everything and prevents the country’s development.” “May each of us be ready for conversion and to stand up for justice,” he concluded.

Source: Agenzia Fides

A separatist alliance in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions said it would observe a three-day “safe travel passage” later this week to allow civilians and visitors to move freely during a visit by Pope ‌Leo.

The pope left on Monday for a tour of four African countries – Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea – aiming to urge global leaders to address the continent’s challenges. Africa is home to more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics.

Source: Reuters