LUANDA, Angola — Pope Leo XIV on April 18 called on Angola’s leaders and people to “remove the obstacles to integral human development,” urging them to choose the path of the common good, resist exploitative interests, and preserve the hope and joy that, he said, remain among Africa’s greatest treasures.
The pope spoke at the presidential palace in Luanda during his meeting with authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps, the first public event of the Angola leg of his broader trip to Africa.
Arriving in Luanda earlier in the day, Leo traveled by popemobile through jubilant crowds lining the route to the palace. He also held a private meeting with Angolan President João Lourenço before delivering his address.
At the outset of his speech, the pope expressed solidarity with those affected by recent flooding in the country.
“Before continuing, I would like to offer the assurance of my prayers for the victims of the heavy rains and floods that have struck the province of Benguela, and to express my closeness to the families who have lost their homes,” he said. “I also know that you, the people of Angola, are united in a great chain of solidarity with those affected.”
His remarks came against the backdrop of mounting social strains in Angola, including protests last year over fuel price increases, repeated criticism by the country’s bishops over entrenched corruption, and deadly flooding in early April.
Leo framed his address around themes that have marked earlier stops on his Africa trip, including peace, reconciliation, the common good, and criticism of those who exploit the continent for personal gain.
Speaking in Portuguese, the pope praised the Angolan people for possessing “treasures that cannot be bought or taken away.”
“In particular, there dwells within you a joy that not even the most adverse circumstances have been able to extinguish,” he said. This joy, he added, “is no stranger to sorrow, indignation, disappointment and defeat,” yet continues to be reborn in those who have resisted “the seductions of wealth.”
The pope sharply criticized patterns of exploitation directed at Africa.
“You know well that all too often people have looked — and continue to look — to your lands in order to give, or, more commonly, in order to take,” he said. “It is necessary to break this cycle of interests, which reduces reality, and even life itself, to mere commodities.”
Leo described Africa’s joy and hope as “virtues that I would not hesitate to call ‘political,’” because “her young people and her poor continue to dream and to hope.” He said they “are not content with what already exists; they strive to rise above, to prepare themselves for great responsibilities, and to take an active part in shaping their own future.”
He also emphasized that authentic social transformation cannot be imposed ideologically.
“Indeed, the wisdom of a people cannot be stifled by any ideology, and the longing for the infinite that dwells in the human heart is a principle of social transformation far deeper than any political or cultural program,” he said.
The pope said he had come to “listen to and encourage all those who have already chosen the paths of goodness, justice, peace, tolerance and reconciliation,” while also praying “for the conversion of those who choose contrary paths and hinder its harmonious and fraternal development.”
Turning to Angola’s natural wealth, Leo warned against what he called a destructive extractive logic.
“How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism!” he said. At every level, he added, it supports “a model of development that discriminates and excludes, while still presuming to impose itself as the only viable option.”
He said Africa “urgently needs to overcome situations and dynamics of conflict and enmity that tear apart the social and political fabric of many countries, fostering poverty and exclusion.”
Only encounter allows life to flourish, the pope said, and dialogue must come first, even when disagreements emerge.
“Angola can experience great growth if, first of all, those who hold authority in the country believe in the manifold nature of its riches,” he said. “Do not be afraid of disagreement; do not suppress the ideas of the young or the dreams of the elderly; and know how to manage conflicts by transforming them into paths of renewal. Place the common good before every particular interest, never confusing your own part with the whole. History will then vindicate you, even if in the near term some may oppose you.”
Leo then returned to the themes of joy and hope, describing them not as merely private sentiments but as forces with public and political consequences.
“Despots and tyrants of both body and spirit seek to render souls passive and passions gloomy; they prefer a populace prone to inertia, docile and subservient to power,” he said.
Sadness, he argued, leaves people vulnerable to fear, fanaticism, manipulation, and isolation from public life. By contrast, “true joy frees us from such alienation,” he said, calling joy “a gift of the Holy Spirit.”
“Joy intensifies life and leads to the creation of community,” the pope said. “Joy knows how to carve paths even in the darkest zones of stagnation and hardship.”
He concluded with an appeal for moral and social renewal.
“Let us therefore examine our own hearts, dear friends, because without joy there is no renewal; without interiority there is no liberation; without encounter there is no politics; without the other there is no justice.”
Leo said the Catholic Church wants to help Angola become “a project of hope” by fostering a just model of coexistence, especially in poor urban neighborhoods and remote rural areas.
“Let us remove the obstacles to integral human development, working and hoping together alongside those whom the world has discarded but whom God has chosen,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.