DOUALA, Cameroon (AP) — Pope Leo XIV urged Cameroon’s young people on Friday to resist the temptation to migrate and instead work for the common good at home, as he called for morally upright citizens to combat corruption plaguing many African countries.
Leo highlighted two of the big problems facing the continent during a Mass and a meeting with students and faculty at the Catholic University of Central Africa: the corruption that keeps countries in poverty and the brain drain of their brightest children who leave rather than fight the corruption at home.
They’re themes Leo has highlighted during his visit to Cameroon, a mineral-rich Central African nation which has been ruled since 1982 by 93-year-old President Paul Biya, who last year secured an eighth consecutive term with a disputed election.
Friday marked the half-way point in Leo’s 11-day tour of four African nations. He leaves Saturday for Angola, another country blessed with oil and other natural resources, but where a third of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day.
“Africa, indeed, must be freed from the scourge of corruption,” Leo told the university students and their teachers in the capital Yaounde.
“The greatness of a nation cannot be measured solely by the abundance of its natural resources, nor even by the material wealth of its institutions,” he said. “No society, in fact, can flourish unless it is grounded in upright consciences, formed in the truth.”
Leo began the day celebrating Mass in the port city of Douala, Cameroon’s financial and economic hub on its western coast. The Vatican had expected as many as 600,000 would attend, but only around 120,000 made it.
Cameroonian organizers suggested that security limitations and closed roads may have prevented many people from getting to the field, which was located well outside of town next to the Japoma sports stadium.
Some of those who did make it had spent the night on the ground, battling mosquitoes. But they said they were willing to make the sacrifice for the pope.
“I wanted to offer this effort to the pope, to show him that what he is doing and what he wants to accomplish should truly come to life,” said Alex Nzumo, who arrived at the Mass on crutches.
Source: WPLG
