The streets of Yaoundé were lined with tens of thousands of faithful followers today as Pope Leo XIV arrived in Cameroon to begin the second leg of his 11-day apostolic journey across the African continent.
Landing at Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport shortly before 3:00 PM, the Pontiff was greeted by a vibrant display of traditional dancers and choral music.
After concluding a two-day stay in Algeria, which included a symbolic visit to the ruins of St. Augustine’s Hippo, Pope Leo arrived in Cameroon, turning his focus toward the “microcosm of African Catholicism.”
The presence of Pope Leo XIV in Cameroon is viewed by many as a vital spiritual intervention for the country’s embattled regions.
On his way to meet Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who has ruled the mainly French-speaking country since 1982, the U.S-born pope blessed the mass of faithful who had lined the route from an open-top car.
Thousands of people, some of them playing music, singing, and dancing, had already gathered in the scorching sunshine outside the airport to welcome his arrival.
“It’s such a relief that the pope is coming to see us, because there are so many problems in this country,” Helene Ebogo, 19, told AFP outside the airport.
In the central African country where more than a third of the around 30 million people are Catholic, the Church plays a key mediation role and runs a large network of hospitals, schools, and charities.
Posters, banners, and flags festooned the city in honour of the pope’s visit, the fourth by a pope and the first since Pope Benedict XVI came in 2009.
Leo’s meeting with 93-year-old Biya, the world’s oldest head of state, has divided Catholics in the country.
Clergy members have voiced fears that it will help Biya to burnish his image, six months after violently suppressed protests against his disputed re-election to an eighth term.
The 70-year-old pope will later visit a Catholic orphanage and hold a private meeting with Cameroonian bishops.
On Thursday he will make a high-security visit to a conflict zone where English-speaking separatists are fighting the army.
“We hope that as soon as he sets foot on Cameroonian soil, the war will stop,” Benedicte Belinka, dressed in a tunic bearing the pope’s image, told AFP.
The violence has seen civilians become the target of killings and kidnappings.
Earlier this week, separatist groups announced a three-day truce starting on Wednesday to allow the highly symbolic visit in the western anglophone region, where nearly a fifth of the population lives.
The pope will give a speech and celebrate mass in the main city of Bamenda, at the centre of the conflict that erupted after demonstrations in 2016 were put down by the authorities.
The crackdown led to a full-blown rift between the army and English-speaking separatists that has yet to be resolved.
The violence had caused more than 6,000 deaths by 2024, according to rights groups.
“As the pope puts his feet on the soil of Bamenda, we should have peace. All the killing, the kidnapping should stop,” Giovanni Mbuna, 36, who was abducted by separatists in 2023, told the press.
