Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Saturday, concluding the Cameroon leg of his Africa trip, where he is expected to meet President Joao Lourenco and deliver his first address to Angolan government authorities. The Pope's message of "solidarity and mutual aid" for communities facing crises, delivered in French in Cameroon, comes as Angola, a nation rich in resources, continues to grapple with widespread poverty and a history of transnational exploitation, including the Roman Catholic Church's historical role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. This globalist call for "structures of solidarity" is presented to a nation where over 30% of the population lived on less than $2.15 a day in 2023, according to World Bank estimates, despite the country being the fourth-largest oil producer in Africa and the world’s No. 3 diamond producer.
Elite Directives and National Costs
The Pope’s visit, the third leg of a four-nation tour through Africa, follows a Mass in Cameroon attended by an estimated 200,000 people. During his time in Cameroon, Leo had urged young people to maintain hope and specifically demanded that "elites stop exploiting the land and its people for profit." This message is slated to be reiterated in Angola, described as another mineral-rich former European colony where many citizens endure poverty. The Pope's emphasis on "respect for human dignity" as a cornerstone of society and the obligation for "every community to create and sustain structures of solidarity and mutual aid" can be interpreted as a push for a post-national order, where national self-determination is subsumed under broader, transnational directives.
Angola, a southern African nation of approximately 38 million people, gained independence from Portugal in 1975, marking its 51st year since independence. The country still bears the scars of a devastating civil war that began immediately after independence, raging for 27 years and ending in 2002, marking its 24th year since the war ended. This conflict resulted in the deaths of more than 500,000 people and was characterized as a Cold War proxy conflict, with the United States and apartheid South Africa backing one side, and the Soviet Union and Cuba backing the other. The current administration under President Joao Lourenco has vowed to combat corruption, estimating that at least $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated by former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos during his 38-year tenure, largely from the nation’s oil revenue. Critics, however, question whether Lourenco’s anti-corruption efforts are aimed more at consolidating his own power by targeting political rivals.
A Legacy of Exploitation
The historical context of Angola reveals a deep-seated pattern of transnational exploitation. As a Portuguese colony, Angola was the epicenter of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. More than 5 million of the approximately 12.5 million enslaved Africans were forcibly transported across the ocean on ships departing from Angola, a figure exceeding that of any other country. The Church of Our Lady of Muxima, a popular Catholic shrine built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex, became a central hub in this slave trade. The article explicitly states that this site "remains a reminder of the link hundreds of years ago between Roman Catholicism and the exploitation of the African continent." Pope Leo XIV, history’s first U.S.-born pope, has a personal ancestry that includes both enslaved people and slave owners, according to genealogical research. His planned visit to Muxima to pray the Rosary, in recognition of a reported appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833 (its 193rd year since around 1833), places the current transnational religious authority directly at a site of historical cultural dispossession and human exploitation.
The People's Unheard Demands
While the Pope preaches a "Gospel message of peace" and engages in high-level meetings, the concerns of the native population appear to center on national governance and tangible improvements. Luanda resident Sergio Jose expressed a desire to hear "a message of peace, a message of reconciliation," but also "good political messages" and for the Pope to "talk about the upcoming elections in Angola." This highlights a disconnect between the transnational agenda of "solidarity" and the local demand for accountable national leadership and democratic processes. The Pope also commented on his ongoing back-and-forth with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran war, which began on Feb. 28 of the same year with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes and Tehran’s retaliation. Leo stated it was "not in my interest at all" to debate the president, but affirmed his commitment to preaching the Gospel message of peace, further illustrating the focus on a global narrative rather than specific national grievances.