Pope Leo XIV departed Cameroon on April 18, and landed in Angola at 3 p.m. West Africa Time (GMT+1). He will meet with President João Lourenço and deliver his first speech before Angolan government authorities. AP reported that “the highlight of Leo’s visit to Angola is expected to be his visit Sunday [April 19] to Muxima, south of Luanda. It’s a popular Catholic shrine in a country where around 58% of the population is Catholic.”
AP also notes that Angola is a nation of 38 million, with great oil and diamond wealth, but where “the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population lived on less than $2.15 a day”—its definition of “extreme poverty.”
Pope Leo also spoke to the press on his plane right after taking off from Cameroon, addressing the public brouhaha over his dispute with Trump. Vatican News reported Leo saying: “There’s been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects, but because of the political situation created when on the first day of the trip the President of the United States made some comments about me.”
