Pope Leo XIV brought a message of peace, reconciliation, and hope to Angola during the third leg of his historic 10-day tour of four African nations, urging the country to build hope and move beyond the divisions left by decades of civil war.
The Pontiff arrived in Angola on Saturday, April 18, marking the third stop on an ambitious apostolic journey that also includes Algeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea—spanning 18,000 kilometers across the continent from April 13 to 23, 2026.
During a massive open-air Mass attended by tens of thousands in Angola’s capital, the Pope addressed the crowd in Portuguese, speaking to a nation still grappling with the legacy of 27 years of civil conflict that ended only in 2002. He told the assembly: Build hope—this is the call that Resurrected Christ addresses to each of us. Angola is called to look forward, to heal, and to build together.
One of the most poignant moments of the visit came on Monday, April 20, when the Pope traveled to Saurimo in the northeastern Lunda Sul province. There, he visited a nursing home—an unusual and deeply personal pastoral choice that reflected his emphasis on reaching those on the margins of society. Speaking to the elderly residents, many of whom survived the war years surrounded by poverty and displacement, he said: Jesus is with us when we forgive, when we pray, when we tend to one another.
The Angola visit also carried significant geopolitical symbolism. Pope Leo XIV’s predecessor, John Paul II, visited Angola in 1992, shortly after the end of the Cold War. This new visit comes at a time when Africa is asserting itself on the global stage, and when the Catholic Church in Africa—now home to over 250 million adherents—represents one of the fastest-growing faith communities in the world.
In meetings with Angolan President Joao Lourenco, the Pope discussed issues of peace, social justice, environmental stewardship, and the fight against corruption. Angola, which holds Africa’s second-largest oil reserves, faces stark inequality and persistent poverty despite its resource wealth.
A highlight of the Cameroon leg earlier in the tour was the Pope’s visit to the Anglophone Northwest Region, where a separatist conflict has simmered since 2017. Speaking in both English and French, Leo XIV urged dialogue, unity, and reconciliation in a region devastated by violence and displacement. He told a crowd in Bamenda: Peace is not merely the absence of war. Peace is the presence of justice, of listening, of respect.
The Africa tour, Leo XIV’s first as Pope, is widely seen as a signal of the Vatican’s strategic priority: engaging with the continent’s booming young population and amplifying the Church’s voice on issues like climate change, economic inequality, and peacebuilding.