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Pope Leo Ends Angola Visit With Calls to Curb Corruption, Resource Plunder

The visit sharpened pressure on leaders to share Angola’s oil and diamond wealth.

Overview

  • At an open-air Mass in Kilamba on Sunday, which drew about 100,000 people, Pope Leo urged Angolans to look to the future with hope and to heal the wound of corruption with a culture of justice and sharing.
  • In Saurimo on Monday, he told worshippers that many are exploited by the powerful and defrauded by the rich, a pointed message in a region near the Catoca diamond mine where poverty persists.
  • He prayed the Rosary at the Mamã Muxima shrine on the Kwanza River, a major pilgrimage site with links to the transatlantic slave trade, underscoring the tour’s focus on memory and reconciliation.
  • Officials and reporters gave differing turnout figures, with estimates around 100,000 at Kilamba and tens of thousands at Muxima and Saurimo despite heat and long travel.
  • The pope wraps up the Angola leg and heads next to Equatorial Guinea, while noting a public dispute with President Donald Trump and saying he will not pursue a new debate.