By Yesim Dikmen and Joshua McElwee
Kilamba, Angola — Pope Leo urged Angolans on Sunday to overcome divisions after decades of bloody conflict in an address to an estimated 100,000 people who flocked to a Mass in a dirt field near the capital Luanda.
In one of the biggest events of his four-nation Africa tour, the pope called Angola, which experienced a bloody, 27-year civil war from 1975 to 2002, a “beautiful yet wounded country”.
He urged Angolans to “build together a country where old divisions are overcome once and for all, where hatred and violence disappear”.
At the end of the Mass, the pope decried the recent ramp-up in the Ukraine war, calling “for the weapons to fall silent and for the path of dialogue to be followed”.
He also praised the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, to end fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, as a “reason for hope”.
Believers began arriving before dawn at Kilamba, a sprawling housing complex, braving hot and humid conditions to hear the address from the pope, who has become outspoken on war and inequality and angered US President Donald Trump.
By the time the Mass began, throngs of people filled the site, dancing and shouting as Leo drove through in his white popemobile.
Among those welcoming Leo was Sister Christina Matende, who arrived around 6am for the Mass.
“The pope coming here is a joy,” she said. “We are living in a moment of a lot of difficulties.”
Angola is one of the leading oil-producing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, but its population of 36.6-million people is still confronting extreme poverty, with more than 30% living on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank.
More than half of the country identifies as Catholic.
Despots and tyrants
Leo, the first US pope, is visiting Angola on the third leg of a four-nation Africa tour. In a speech to the country’s political leaders on Saturday, he decried the exploitation of natural resources on the continent.
The pope blasted “despots and tyrants” who he said guarantee wealth but do not deliver on their promises, leading to suffering and deaths.
He also urged political leaders to focus on helping all their people and not just corporate interests.
“History will then vindicate you, even if in the near term some may oppose you,” he said.
Anielka Caliata, 25, who was in the crowd waiting for the pope in Kilamba on Sunday, said she was grateful for the way the pope has debuted a forceful speaking style on his Africa tour.
“Our country needs a lot of this message, and I think the pope will help us to think and reflect about that, knowing that all of us need to work together and do our best to have peace,” she said as she stood with her fiancé and parents.
Inaccurate reports
On Saturday, Pope Leo sought to downplay his feud with US President Donald Trump, saying reporting about comments he has made so far during his Africa tour “has not been accurate in all its aspects”.
Speaking to reporters in English aboard his flight to Angola for the third leg of his ambitious 10-day Africa tour, the first US pope said comments he made two days earlier in Cameroon decrying that the world was being “ravaged by a handful of tyrants” were not aimed at Trump.
That speech, said Leo, “was prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on me and on the message of peace that I am promoting”.
Vice-president JD Vance, who had criticised the pope’s remarks last week, welcomed his latest comments.
“I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this,” Vance posted on social media platform X. “While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict — and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen — the reality is often much more complicated.”
