Leo XIV continues his African wanderings. The first pope to set foot on Algerian soil last week, he then visited Cameroon from April 15 to 18. During a visit to the Catholic University of Central Africa (UCAC) in Yaoundé on Friday April 17, the sovereign pontiff encouraged Cameroonian students to ” resist “ to the call of emigration, as reported by the Cameroonian media Cameroon News.
“I invite you above all to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country, and to put at the service of your fellow citizens the knowledge that you are acquiring here”he declared, estimating however “understandable” the departure of many young adults to Europe and North America. According to World Bank data, the number of Cameroonian migrants has grown on average by 2.5% per year since 1960.
While the country is mired in crises, first and foremost the conflict between separatist groups and the government of President Paul Biya, re-elected for the eighth time in October 2025, the Holy Father insisted on the role of Cameroonian student youth. According to him, the university trains “ pastors of souls and lay people engaged in society: they are the witnesses of wisdom and fairness that the African continent needs », he continued, urging his students to seek the truth and shape their conscience in the face of the excesses of the world, in particular artificial intelligence, a theme dear to the American pope.
Special attention from the Vatican to Catholics in Africa
Immigration was a central theme of the previous pontificate, marked by symbolic gestures. Pope Francis, for example, made his first apostolic visit to the island of Lampedusa, in July 2013, and washed the feet of refugees from different faiths during the celebration of Holy Thursday on the Greek island of Lesbos, in 2016. The same year, the Vatican created a section of migrants and refugees within the Dicastery for the service of integral human development. Qualifying as “serious sin” the attempts of Western governments to repel the waves of asylum seekers, the Argentine pope devoted a large part of his encyclical Fratelli tutti on this subject, published in 2020.
After Cameroon, Leo XIV flew to Angola, before concluding his tour of Africa in Equatorial Guinea. A way of showing the attention of the Vatican at the bedside of a continent which brings together more than 280 million Catholics, or nearly 20% of the faithful on the planet. The gesture is a continuation of that of Francis, who created 17 African cardinals under his pontificate.
