Pope’s Mass for more than 100,000 in Cameroon highlights Catholicism’s growth in Africa
By Christopher Lamb, CNN
(CNN) — Pope Leo XIV has presided over his largest Mass during his trip to Africa, with more than 100,000 people turning out for a liturgy in Douala, Cameroon.
A sprawling crowd, which local authorities estimated to be at 120,000, gathered in the car park of the Japoma Stadium, greeting the American pope with singing and dancing, holding up banners welcoming the pontiff and waving Vatican flags.
Many of those at the Mass had been in place for hours to secure a spot for the vibrant liturgy interspersed with music from a local choir. The pope’s visit to Cameroon, as part of a 10-day Africa visit, has provided a boost for a country where around 37.7 million live in poverty and which has suffered internal conflict.
“Having him here, I feel like I’m being blessed,” Fola Norn, a young woman in the crowd for the Mass, said. “We are jobless here. We study and we don’t have jobs to do.”
The pope also referenced the problems in the country.
“Despite the richness of the land in Cameroon, many experience both material and spiritual poverty,” the pope said during his homily. “Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality and work.”
In the face of poverty, Leo urged them to “reject every form of abuse or violence,” while warning against being “corrupted by temptations that waste your energies and do not serve the progress of society.”
The large crowd underlines the growth of Catholicism in Africa. Believers on the continent now account for roughly 20% of the global Catholic population.
Around 30% of the population in Cameroon are Catholic, with the church in the country serving as a major provider of education and healthcare and supporting civil society. The church’s presence is felt strongly in parts of the country where state infrastructure is limited.
Leo’s trip to Douala, a French speaking part of Cameroon and its economic hub, comes the day after he was in Bamenda, the center of the Anglophone crisis in the country. Cameroon has suffered for years from a conflict between English-speaking separatists resisting the Francophone government.
The pope, who gave his reflection during the Mass speaking in both English and French, took part in a peace meeting in Bamenda on Thursday as he continued to face a series of attacks from US President Donald Trump.
The US president has targeted Leo for speaking out against the war in Iran. The pope has insisted he is not afraid of the Trump administration and will continue speaking up. While in Africa, Leo has seemed at ease and has been speaking in a more impassioned way than previously in his pontificate.
On Thursday, Leo said the world was being “ravaged by a few tyrants” and criticized those who turn “a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.”
On Saturday, Leo heads to Angola, the third stop in his four-country tour of Africa, the longest of his pontificate.
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