Pope Leo XIV urged Africa’s youth population on Friday to solve the continent’s economic and corruption problems rather than migrate elsewhere.
The pope, speaking to a crowd of university students and teachers from the Catholic University of Central Africa in Cameroon’s capital city of Yaounde, said that the continent “must be freed from the scourge of corruption” while urging the young to lead the charge, according to a transcript released by The Holy See. The remarks came as the Pope was embarking on an 11-day pastoral visit to the continent, which includes Angola, Algeria and Equatorial Ghana.
“In the face of the understandable tendency to migrate — which may lead one to believe that elsewhere a better future may be more easily found — I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens,” the pope said.