Angola’s bishops hope the pope’s visit will inspire the country’s youth and help heal the past
Pope Leo will visit Angola on April 18, as part of a trip to Africa which includes Algeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea.
Angola is a land of paradoxes; like many African nations, it is rich in natural resources, yet more than 30% of its population lives in extreme poverty, on less than two euros a day. This has led the Catholic Church, in a document published by the Bishops’ Conference in July 2025, to denounce “the scandal of hunger” and the “visible anxiety” of many people forced into “conditions of destitution.”
Angola is also still recovering from a long period of civil war. According to Bishop António Jaca, of Benguela, even though the fighting ended 24 years ago, there is more to peace than the absence of conflict. “Those were long years of suffering. But peace is also about development and social harmony, so there is still a long way to go,” he told Pontifical Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
“There is no peace in society without peace within families, and for that, families must have enough to live on,” Bishop Jaca continued, adding that the country’s current economic situation is “still very, very difficult. We have high levels of unemployment and criminality, which is no doubt a consequence of unemployment and an idle youth. Most families survive on fragile income and informal trade.”
The Church is deeply concerned about young people and their future, in a country where 60% of the population is under the age of 25. Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento, of Luanda, believes that the pope’s visit will resonate in a special way with youth, whom he addressed in a message sent through ACN.
“The pope is visiting Angola at a time when you are young, full of energy, dreams, and enthusiasm. Embrace the Holy Father, and welcome him with the energy that is proper of your age. Show him how strong, beautiful, and full of dreams the Angolan youth is. Show him how faith shapes and inspires your lives, how it helps you to swim against the tide, against life’s challenges, and believe that with effort, discipline, and sacrifice, you can build a different future.”
Source: Universidade Católica de Angola (April 15, 2026)
The archbishop also challenged young people to accompany the pope to the Shrine of Our Lady of Muxima. “We’ll drive, take taxis, motorcycles, walk, or even run to Muxima. Let us go there and say: ‘Welcome, Pope Leo.’”
The pope’s visit to Angola coincides with the 450th anniversary of the founding of the city of Luanda, the capital of the Portuguese-speaking country. The land that is now Angola saw the first efforts at evangelization and the first baptisms in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Church has a rich history of which Angolans are very proud.
Bishop António Jaca highlights the current vitality of the Angolan Church, using his own Diocese of Benguela as an example. “This year we have 515 seminarians in our three seminaries, as well as in other seminaries in Angola, and a large number of vocations in religious institutes.”
Many of these students benefit from ACN’s support, says the bishop. “Thank you so much to ACN for all the support and help it provides and has provided to the Church in Angola for so many years, be it to the seminaries or formation houses, but in general to everything that is related to evangelization. Thank you to all, and God bless you.”
Leo XIV is the third pope to visit Angola, after Benedict XVI in 2009 and John Paul II in 1992.
