Pope Leo warns against exploitation of Africa’s resources
Pope Leo XIV (Photo: Getty Images)
Pope Leo XIV, during his visit to African countries, condemned the exploitation of the continent's resources. He warned that such a practice is a recipe for discontent and upheaval, reports Bloomberg.
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"Too often your lands have been looked at in order to give, or more frequently, to take something. It is necessary to break this chain of interests that reduces reality and life itself to a mere commodity," the Pope said during his visit to the capital of Angola.
He emphasized that such a predatory logic brings suffering, death, and social and economic disasters to all corners of the world. For this reason, the head of the Roman Catholic Church called for the following:
The Pontiff called for a “fair model of coexistence, free from the forms of enslavement imposed by elites with great wealth and false joys.”
It is noted that Pope Leo began his visit to Africa in Algeria, where he met with the country's president and spoke about the need for peace and forgiveness.
Before visiting Angola, the third largest oil producer in Africa, he was in Cameroon, where he called for dialogue and reconciliation between separatists in the country's English-speaking regions and the government.
The pontiff's visit to the continent will end next week in Equatorial Guinea.
Latest events with the Pope
Фbout a week ago, US President Donald Trump sharply criticized Pope Leo, calling him weak on crime issues and terrible on foreign policy. He emphasized that he did not want a Pope who would allow Iran to possess nuclear weapons.
A few days after this criticism, the pontiff made a statement in which he criticized tyrants who spend billions on murder and destruction.
Although yesterday he explained that his speech criticizing the handful of tyrants who devastate the Earth with war and exploitation was written long before the spat with Trump.