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Cameroonians welcomed Pope Leo XIV with joy and vibrant fanfare upon his arrival in the Central African country on Wednesday.
The United States-born pontiff landed in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, shortly before 3:00 pm local time (1400 GMT) on Wednesday. He had spent two days in Algeria for the first leg of his African tour before heading to Cameroon.
He is expected to deliver a message of peace, which has been the epicentre of a nearly decade-long separatist conflict. The Pope will meet President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest president, during his stay in the country.
Thousands of people, some of them playing music and dancing, gathered outside the airport to welcome him. One of those who gathered outside the airport in anticipation of the Pope’s arrival said he hoped his visit would bring an end to the war.
Some Cameroonians expressed optimism in the Pope’s visit, hoping that his stay in the country would help resolve the country’s longstanding crisis.
“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.
A 36-year-old man who was abducted by separatists in 2023, Giovanni Mbuna, told AFP he hopes the killings and abductions will cease with the Pope’s arrival.
“As the pope puts his feet on the soil of Bamenda, we should have peace. All the killing, the kidnapping, should stop,” said Mbuna.
More than a third of Cameroon’s around 30 million people are Catholic. The Church plays a key mediation role and runs a large network of hospitals, schools and charities.
The Pope’s visit to Cameroon is the fourth by a pope and the first since Pope Benedict XVI came in 2009.
Posters, banners and flags festooned the city in honour of the pope’s visit.
Clergy members have voiced fears that the Pope’s visit will help the Cameroonian President to burnish his image, six months after he 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.
The Archbishop of Bamenda, Andrew Nkea, voiced hopes the visit would help bring peace to the region.
“The pope’s visit will soften the hearts of the extremists so that we can find common ground… and reach a peaceful solution,” Nkea said.
Pope Leo XIV will depart Cameroon for Angola on Saturday.
