In Angola, Pope condemsn 'chain of extractivism', Africa, a 'reservoir of joy and hope'

Leo XIV in Kilamba with 100,000 faithful in the aftermath of the civil war: ‘The Lord is with us’. The call to “be vigilant regarding forms of traditional religiosity”. The need for pastors and missionaries with “a desire to break their own lives and give them away”. Yesterday in Luanda to the authorities: “true joy” free from the “logic of extractivisim”. At the Regina Caeli: the truce in Lebanon “a seed of relief for the people”.

Kilamba (AsiaNews) - Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic journey through Africa continues in Angola. This morning, after a lengthy tour in the popemobile amongst 100,000 faithful, the pontiff celebrated Holy Mass on the esplanade at Kilamba. A “festive welcome” greeted the Pope, who said his “heart was full of gratitude”. It is the story of the disciples of Emmaus that accompanies today’s liturgy. A story in which is “reflected” that of Angola, a “vibrant mosaic”, a country “beautiful yet wounded, which hungers and thirsts for hope, peace and brotherhood”. The disciples’ despondency is the same as that caused by the “long civil war”, which began in 1975, said the Pope.

A conflict that has generated a “legacy of enmity and division, of squandered resources and poverty”. “When one is immersed for a long time in a history so marked by pain, one runs the risk faced by the two disciples of Emmaus: losing hope and becoming paralysed by discouragement,” he added. Thus, just as he does with them, who find themselves “running out of hope”, Jesus can bestow “the grace to start afresh and rebuild the future”. To his “dear Angolan brothers and sisters”, the Pope pointed out “a path to start afresh”. That is, “the certainty that the Lord accompanies us and has compassion on us”, as well as “the commitment” that He demands.

The Pope explained that the Lord’s companionship is experienced “in our relationship with Him, in prayer, in listening to His Word”. For this reason, it is important “to be vigilant regarding those forms of traditional religiosity which certainly belong to the roots of your culture, but which at the same time risk confusing and mixing in magical and superstitious elements that do not aid the spiritual journey”, he said. “Remain faithful to what the Church teaches, trust your Pastors and keep your gaze fixed on Jesus”.

“The history of your country, the still difficult consequences you endure, the social and economic problems and the various forms of poverty call for the presence of a Church that knows how to walk alongside you on your journey and knows how to heed the cry of its children”. A Church that “knows how to rekindle lost hope”. “A Church made up of people like you who give of themselves just as Jesus broke bread for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus,” he added. Angola needs bishops, priests, missionaries, men and women religious, and laypeople who have in their hearts the desire to break open their own lives and give them to one another, to commit themselves to mutual love and forgiveness, to build spaces of fraternity and peace, and to perform acts of compassion and solidarity towards those most in need.”

Leo XIV also called for urgent “spaces of fraternity and peace” during the Regina Caeli at the end of the celebration. Especially in Ukraine, where there is an “escalation of attacks […], which continue to strike civilians as well”. “I express my closeness to all those who are suffering and assure the Ukrainian people of my prayers. I renew my appeal for the weapons to fall silent and for the path of dialogue to be pursued,” he continued.

The truce announced in Lebanon, meanwhile, is a “source of hope”, a “bud of relief for the Lebanese people and for the Levant”. “I encourage those working towards a diplomatic solution to continue the peace talks, so as to make the cessation of hostilities permanent throughout the Middle East”. The Pope specified that with the “joyful song” that rose from Kilamba this Sunday, “we do not wish to erase or stifle the cry of those who suffer, but rather to embrace it and unite it with our own voice, in a new harmony, so that even in pain the light of faith may remain alive, and with it the hope for a better world”.

Yesterday, at the presidential palace in Luanda, the Pope met with the authorities – including President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço – civil society and the diplomatic corps. “I come to you to meet your people, as a pilgrim seeking the signs of God’s passage through this land He loves,” he said at the start of his address. “I wish to meet you in the gratuitousness of peace and to acknowledge that your people possess treasures that cannot be sold or stolen.” Among these is the “joy that even the most adverse circumstances have been unable to extinguish”.

“Too often, your regions have been and continue to be viewed as a source from which to give, or more often, to take something. We must break this chain of interests that reduces reality and life itself to a commodity,” he added. “Africa is a reservoir of joy and hope for the whole world, which I would not hesitate to call ‘political’ virtues, because its young people and its poor still dream, still hope, are not content with what already exists, wish to rise again, prepare themselves for great responsibilities, and take a personal stake in the future.”

The Pope spoke of an “extractivist logic”. “How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental catastrophes it brings with it”, with “material riches that overbearing interests lay their hands on, even in your country”. It fuels a “model of development that discriminates and excludes, yet still claims to be the only one possible”. From this “true joy is set free, which it is no coincidence that faith recognises as a gift of the Holy Spirit”, he said.

“The Catholic Church, whose work in the service of the country I know you hold in such high esteem, wishes to be leaven in the dough and to foster the growth of a just model of coexistence, free from the forms of slavery imposed by elites with great wealth and false joys,” he continued. Only together can we multiply the talents of this wonderful people, right into the urban peripheries and the most remote rural regions where their life pulsates and their future is being shaped. Let us remove the obstacles to integral human development, struggling and hoping together with those whom the world has cast aside.”