Pope Leo celebrates Mass in Angolan city with call for peace in Middle East
發佈日期: 2026-04-20 20:51
TVB News
Pope Leo XIV has celebrated Holy Mass on the third Sunday of Easter in the African country of Angola to offer a message of encouragement and prayed for a permanent ending of hostilities in the Middle East.
Pope Leo XIV is on an 11-day apostolic journey in Africa characterised by repeated appeals for peace.
On Sunday morning, Angolans cheered as he passed them on the Popemobile and presided over an open-air Mass in Kilamba, a Chinese-built urban development on the outskirts of Luanda City. For many faithful flocking to the arena, it's the first time that they saw the Holy Father face to face.
The celebration, held in the presence of an estimated 100,000 people, was enriched by readings and hymns and culminated in Leo's homily.
He addressed Angola's civil war-scarred past and denounced the exploitation of the people and their mineral-rich land.
The pontiff said, "We wish to build a country where old divisions are overcome once and for all, where hatred and violence disappear, and where the scourge of corruption is healed by a new culture of justice and sharing."
At the end of his Mass, Leo said the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was "a sign of relief" for the Lebanese, praying it would bring permanent peace to the Middle East.
The first United States-born pope then travelled by helicopter to the town of Muxima, where a church overlooks a river that was once a major route for African slave trade during Portugal's colonial rule.
He prayed the Rosary at a Catholic shrine known as the Sanctuary of Mama Muxima, a pilgrimage destination after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.
Leo, whose own ancestors include enslaved people and slave owners, recalled the sorrow and great suffering that the Angolan people endured for centuries, without referring specifically to slavery.
He called on people to build "a better, more welcoming world" where there are no wars, injustices, poverty or dishonesty.
