Pope in Angola decries ‘despots’ who exploit resources
Pope Leo harshly condemned the exploitation of natural resources in Africa and criticized “despots and tyrants” who guaranteed wealth but did not fulfill their promises, causing suffering and death.
In his speech in oil-rich Angola, the third stop of his four-country African tour, Leo called on Angolans to work for a society free from “slavery imposed by elites filled with abundant wealth but false happiness.”
In Luanda, Angola’s capital, Leo lamented “powerful interests laying claim” to the former Portuguese colony’s natural resources, an apparent reference to foreign companies benefiting from Angola’s oil and diamond sectors and its emerging critical mineral sector.
“People have often looked and continue to look at your lands to take them,” the pope said in a speech to Angolan President João Lourenço and other political leaders.
“How much pain, how much death, how much social and environmental disaster this extractive mentality causes!” said the Pope.
Originally from Chicago, Leo kept a relatively low profile during his first 10 months as a pastor but has become outspoken on a range of issues in recent weeks.
He delivered scathing condemnations of war and inequality during his 10-day tour of Africa, one of the most complex tours ever undertaken for a priest, stopping in 11 cities and towns in four countries and covering nearly 18,000 kilometers in 18 flights.
Despite being one of sub-Saharan Africa’s leading oil-producing countries, Angola’s population of 36.6 million still faces extreme poverty, with more than 30 percent living on less than $A3 per day, according to the World Bank.
More than half of the country identifies as Catholic.
Leo called on Angolans to “break this cycle of interests that reduces truth and even life to mere commodities.”
He called on the country’s political leaders to focus on helping all of its people, not just corporate interests.
“Even if some people oppose you in the near term, history will prove you right,” he said.
Earlier on Saturday, before flying to Angola, Leo celebrated a farewell mass in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, and appealed to attendees not to lose hope despite the challenges facing the central African country, which includes a simmering conflict that has left thousands dead.
“In those moments when we seem to be sinking, when we are overcome by hostile forces, when everything seems bleak… Jesus is always with us, stronger than any evil force,” the pope told the Vatican crowd estimated at 200,000, which will be the largest event of his tour so far.
“He comes to us every storm and repeats: ‘I’m here, don’t be afraid,'” Leo said.
The crowds that greeted the Pope on his visit to Cameroon were enthusiastic; these included an estimated 120,000 people who attended a Mass in Douala on Friday, lining the streets along their route and wearing colorful fabrics bearing images of his face.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
