Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for more than 120,000 people in Douala, Cameroon’s largest city, on April 17. During the service held near Japoma Stadium under high temperatures, he called on the “beloved children of the African continent” to share God’s love by feeding the hungry and offering spiritual nourishment.
The event drew a large crowd that included many who spent the night outside to secure their places. Remerit Ngwe said she waited for sixteen hours overnight: “Since yesterday 7 p.m. we slept here on the stone waiting for the pope,” she said. “We are so happy we finally saw the pope, Pope Leo, a once in a lifetime experience. Long live the pope!”
In his homily delivered in both French and English, Pope Leo addressed concerns about hunger by referencing the Gospel account of Jesus multiplying loaves and fishes. “A serious problem was solved by blessing the little food that was present and sharing it with all who were hungry,” Pope Leo said in French. He continued: “There is bread for everyone if it is given to everyone. There is bread for everyone if it is taken, not with a hand that snatches away, but with a hand that gives.” The pope emphasized that this act reveals a God who comes “to serve with love, not to dominate.” He added: “Each act of solidarity and forgiveness, every good effort, becomes a morsel of bread for humanity in need of care.” He also noted that spiritual nourishment is essential: “the food that sustains the body must be accompanied…by nourishment for the soul — a nourishment that sustains our conscience and steadies us in dark hours of fear and amid shadows of suffering.” According to him: “Christ himself…always gives his Church abundant sustenance and strengthens us on our journey by giving us his Eucharistic Body.”
Cameroon has over eight million Catholics—about thirty percent of its population—and faces significant challenges related to poverty and food insecurity as reported by international organizations.
Father Gabriel Abega Owona from Sangmélima Diocese described how priests work daily to nurture faith amid material poverty but great spiritual richness: “Being a priest here means being a father, social worker, and mediator…the explosive joy of Sunday liturgy — which lasts for hours and serves as a true foretaste of paradise.” He explained further: “In Cameroon…the Church manages nearly 1,000 primary schools and hundreds of health care facilities…in many villages…the only doctor or teacher available is one provided by Catholic mission.”
Switching between languages during his address at Mass, Pope Leo urged local Catholics to be “the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life” through wisdom while upholding dignity among their neighbors.
After Mass concluded Friday morning—following his flight from Yaoundé—the pope planned private visits including St. Paul’s Catholic Hospital before returning to meet university students at Yaoundé’s Catholic University.
