Pope Leo XIV urges fight against corruption in Angola as visit highlights slavery history and Church’s colonial legacy
Pope Leo XIV called on Angolans on Sunday to confront corruption with a renewed commitment to justice, opening a major day of his visit to Angola that also includes a stop at a historic site tied to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
The pope celebrated Mass before an estimated 100,000 people outside the capital, encouraging unity in a country still marked by the legacy of civil war and economic inequality. He criticized the exploitation of Angola’s mineral resources and called for an end to division and violence.
“We wish to build a country where old divisions are overcome once and for all, where hatred and violence disappear, and where the scourge of corruption is healed by a new culture of justice and sharing,” Leo said in a large public gathering held in a Chinese-built development outside Luanda.
He also pointed to a cease-fire involving Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon as a hopeful sign for broader peace in the Middle East.
Later in the day, Leo was scheduled to lead prayer at the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, a major Catholic shrine along the Kwanza River south of the capital. The site dates back to the late 1500s, when Portuguese colonizers built the Church of Our Lady of Muxima as part of a fortress complex.
The church later became intertwined with the slave trade, serving as a place where enslaved Africans were gathered, baptized, and then forced on long marches to ports where they were shipped to the Americas. Today, it remains one of Angola’s most visited Catholic sites, though its history reflects the Catholic Church’s historical involvement in colonial-era slavery and forced conversion practices.
The visit has also drawn attention due to the pope’s own family background. Genealogical research has suggested that some of his American ancestors were both enslaved people and slave owners, adding a personal layer of reflection to his trip.
Scholars and Catholic commentators have said the stop at Muxima carries symbolic weight, especially for Black Catholics, many of whom trace aspects of their faith history to slavery and colonial-era forced conversions. Others note that enslaved Africans were sometimes already Catholic when transported across the Atlantic.
The discussion also comes amid renewed attention to centuries-old Vatican documents that provided theological justification for European colonial expansion and enslavement. These decrees helped underpin later doctrines that shaped European claims over lands in Africa and the Americas, though the Vatican has since distanced itself from those teachings.
While later church leaders have acknowledged and condemned slavery, historians continue to debate the extent to which the institutional church has fully reckoned with its role in the system. Some scholars argue that a fuller acknowledgment and apology remains overdue.
Leo has not publicly commented on the genealogical findings about his own ancestry, though church officials say the topic has been raised with him privately. Some Catholic scholars caution against drawing conclusions about his personal views without his own statements.
Church leaders accompanying the visit say it represents both a moment of spiritual reflection and an opportunity to confront difficult historical truths tied to Angola’s past and the broader legacy of slavery.
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