Angola

“Today, Africa is called to contribute significantly to the holiness and missionary character of the Christian people,” the pope said.

“I primarily come to Africa as a pastor … to be with and to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany, all of the Catholics throughout Africa.”

Communities across the continent are pressing the Church to take a clearer stand on the human and environmental cost of mining.

SAURIMO, Angola (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV traveled to the heart of Angola’s diamond country April 20, urging the tens of thousands gathered at the papal Mass in the …

Jesus, the pope told nursing home residents, “dwells among you whenever you try to love one another and help one another as brothers and sisters.”

Pope Leo XIV led tens of thousands of Angolan Catholics in praying the rosary April 19 at southern Africa’s most visited Catholic shrine.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated an outdoor Mass for an estimated 100,000 Catholics in Angola on Sunday, urging them to find renewed hope in the Eucharist and the Risen Christ.

Pope Leo XIV touched down in the Angolan capital of Luanda, beginning a three-day visit to a country that is home to 20 million Catholics.

“It’s important for us to get the message out that Western Christianity is fundamentally African, in the way that Eastern Christianity is fundamentally Greek.”

A Vatican spokesman described the ambitious trip as “one of the longest stretches of time that the pope has been outside the Vatican.”