Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Saturday as the third leg of his four-nation African tour. In his first speech to government authorities, he challenged the country’s leaders to break what he called the “cycle of interests” that has exploited Africa for centuries. The pontiff said Angola’s people possessed treasures that could not be “bought or stolen” despite the nation’s history of colonial plunder, civil war, and pervasive poverty.
Leo’s challenge reflects broad concerns about how concentrated power and extractive economics undermine development in resource-rich nations. Angola holds the world’s third-largest diamond reserves and ranks among Africa’s top oil producers, yet more than 30 percent of its population lives on less than $2.15 a day—a gap the pope attributed to systemic frameworks that treat natural resources as commodities to be plundered.
Pope Leo XIV met with President Joao Lourenço on Saturday and delivered his first speech to Angolan government authorities. The pontiff drew repeated parallels to Angola’s history of colonial plunder and civil war as he outlined his vision for the nation’s future.
Pope Challenges Angola’s Leaders on Exploitation
“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,” Leo said, addressing assembled officials. “It is necessary to break this cycle of interests, which reduces reality, and even life itself, to mere commodities.”
Angola’s Resources, Poverty, and Colonial History
Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975 but descended into civil war almost immediately. The conflict, which lasted 27 years before concluding in 2002, is believed to have killed more than 500,000 people. For decades, Cold War powers used Angola as a proxy battlefield, with the United States and apartheid South Africa backing one side while the Soviet Union and Cuba backed the other.
Today, Angola holds vast natural resources. It ranks as the fourth-largest oil producer in Africa and among the world’s top 20 petroleum producers. The country is the world’s third-largest diamond producer and possesses significant deposits of gold and critical minerals.
Yet despite this resource wealth, poverty remains widespread. The World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30 percent of Angola’s population lived on less than $2.15 a day.
Extractivism, Corruption, and the Path Forward
Leo connected Angola’s resource curse to broader patterns of exploitation across the African continent. While in Cameroon earlier in his tour, he had criticized the “chains of corruption” and the “handful of tyrants” ravaging the Earth with war and extraction.
“How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism!” Leo said in Angola. “At every level, we see how it sustains a model of development that discriminates and excludes, while still presuming to impose itself as the only viable option.”
The disconnect between Angola’s natural wealth and widespread poverty reflects decades of corruption under former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who led the country from 1979 to 2017. Dos Santos was accused of diverting billions of dollars in public money—largely from oil revenue—to his family while millions struggled in poverty.
After President Lourenço took office, his administration estimated that at least $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated during the dos Santos era. Lourenço’s government has pursued recovery efforts and pledged to address corruption, though critics question whether such actions target genuine wrongdoing as much as they target political rivals to consolidate power.
In his Saturday address, Lourenço acknowledged the challenge. He said his administration was committed to improving the lives of Angolans but that it was a “complex and difficult challenge.” He called for an end to the Iran war and asked Leo to continue using his “moral authority” to advocate for peace and understanding.
Ancestral Witness and the Pilgrimage Ahead
Leo carries personal ancestral ties to the colonial violence he is addressing. According to genealogical research, he has Black and white ancestors—including both enslaved people and slave owners.
The highlight of his Angola visit is his Sunday pilgrimage to Muxima, a Catholic shrine south of Luanda. The Church of Our Lady of Muxima was built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the sixteenth century as part of a fortress complex and became a hub in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The site represents the deep connection between Catholicism and the exploitation of Africa. Believers reported an appearance of the Virgin Mary there around 1833, and the church has since become a pilgrimage destination. Approximately 58 percent of Angola’s population is Catholic.
On his way to Angola from Cameroon, Leo addressed the ongoing tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran war. Leo said it was “not in my interest at all” to debate Trump, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace, justice, and brotherhood in Africa. U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, later wrote on social media that “I am grateful to Pope Leo for saying this.” Vance had suggested earlier that Leo “be careful” when speaking about theology.
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