Pope Leo, in Angola, decries 'despots' who make false promises

Pope Leo sharply decried the exploitation of natural resources in Africa Saturday, blasting “despots and tyrants” who guarantee wealth but do not deliver on their promises, leading to suffering and deaths.

In a speech in oil-rich Angola, the third stop on his four-country Africa tour, Leo called on Angolans to work for a society free from the “slavery imposed by the elite who are laden with much wealth but false joys.”

Leo has taken on a new forceful speaking style during the tour this week amid attacks from US President Donald Trump. On the flight from Cameroon to Angola, he sought to downplay their feud, telling reporters that comments he made about “tyrants” earlier in the trip were not directed at Trump and that it was not in the pope’s interest to debate him.




Once on the ground in the Angolan capital, Luanda, Leo lamented that “powerful interests lay their claim” on the former Portuguese colony’s natural resources, an apparent reference to foreign companies benefiting from Angola’s oil and diamond sectors and its nascent critical minerals sector.

“All too often people have looked — and continue to look — to your lands ... in order to take,” the pope said in remarks delivered to Angolan President João Lourenço and other political leaders. “How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are brought about by this logic of extractivism!”.

Leo, originally from Chicago, kept a relatively low profile for a pope in his first 10 months but in recent weeks has become outspoken on a range of issues.

REUTERS