Pope in Cameroon: 'Your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality, and work'

Pope at Mass in Douala

Source: Vatican Media

After flying to the southwestern city of Douala on Friday morning, his third day in Cameroon, Pope Leo XIV presided at Mass at the Japoma Stadium, attended by around 120,000 faithful.

In his homily, the Pope reflected on Jesus' miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes for a great crowd.

Just as in Jesus' time, he said, people hunger for bread and wonder: "Where is God in the face of people's hunger?"

Pope Leo said Jesus offered his response to this question by sharing what he and those around him had with all.

"A serious problem was solved by blessing the little food that was present and sharing it with all who were hungry," he said. "The multiplication of the loaves and the fish happened while sharing: that is the miracle!"

As long as bread is not stolen in strife, hoarded through rationing, or wasted by those who gorged themselves, there is food for everyone, said the Pope.

Besides our material necessity, we also hunger for the bread of life in peace, freedom, and justice, and our every act of solidarity and forgiveness becomes "a morsel of bread for humanity in need of care," he added.

"Yet this alone is not enough," said Pope Leo. "The food that sustains the body must be accompanied, with equal charity, by nourishment for the soul - a nourishment that sustains our conscience and steadies us in dark hours of fear and amid the shadows of suffering."

Christ gives Himself to us in the Eucharist, sustaining the Church and strengthening us on our journey, he said.

The Pope encouraged Catholics to receive the Eucharist as a sign of God's love, as the Father invites us in Christ to share what we have so that it may be multiplied in the Church's care.

Pope Leo went on to recall that God knows all of our situations in life and all of our joys and sorrows, and he encouraged African young people to "multiply your talents through faith, perseverance, and friendship".

"Be the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life to your neighbours, providing them with the food of wisdom and deliverance from all that does not nourish them, but rather obscures good desires and robs them of their dignity," he urged.

The Pope noted the richness of Cameroon's natural resources, which stands in contrast to the material poverty many people face.

"Do not give in to distrust and discouragement," he said. "Reject every form of abuse or violence, which deceives by promising easy gains but hardens the heart and makes it insensitive. Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality, and work."

Pope Leo invited African youth to follow the vocation that God sets out for them, so that they may be protagonists of their own future. "Do not let yourselves be corrupted by temptations that waste your energies and do not serve the progress of society," he said.

Concluding his homily, Pope Leo XIV invited all Christians to proclaim the Gospel of Christ's liberation from sin and death.

"Proclaiming the Risen Jesus means leaving signs of justice in a suffering and oppressed land, signs of peace amid rivalry and corruption, signs of faith that free us from superstition and indifference."

After the Mass Pope Leo XIV made a private visit to St Paul Catholic Hospital in Douala, visiting and praying with patients, families, and hospital staff. He expressed his hope that the visit could be a sign of consolation in their lives and imparted his blessing on everyone present and their loved ones.

After reciting the Our Father, Pope Leo also visited patients in their rooms, particularly children and the elderly, before returning to Yaoundé, Cameroon's capital city, for a visit to the Catholic University of Central Africa.

Students danced, cheered and waved Vatican flags as the Holy Father arrived in a black SUV. Some 8,000 people, including professors and religious men and women, attended the festive event Many of the students gathered in the grassy areas surrounding the pavilion, where not a single empty chair remained.

Here Pope Leo delivered an in-depth reflection on the meaning of higher education, saying that in a time of increasing "individualism, superficiality and hypocrisy", the university stands out as a privileged environment for "friendship, cooperation … interiority and reflection".

The Pope stressed that part of a university's mission is "to form consciences that are free", and to encourage what he called "a holy restlessness". He also returned to the topic of artificial intelligence, a subject he has often discussed in speeches.

The technology, Pope Leo said, "increasingly shapes and permeates our mentality." This transformation, he noted, makes the study of the humanities all the more important, in that this form of education helps individuals to understand "the logic behind the economics, embedded biases and forms of power" at work in the AI era.

On his return to the Apostolic Nunciature, where he is staying, Pope Leo met with a group of nine religious women and men, representing the more than 250 religious institutes and congregations active in Cameroon.

According to a statement from the Holy See Press Office, the religious superiors described their charitable efforts in the country, especially their work with young people, the displaced, victims of violence and human trafficking.

The Pope then told those present that consecrated life calls for "radical courage", in order to address the world's "most complex problems" and bring aid to "those most in need of hope, of the love of God."

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Watch the Mass in Douala: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UauPo_FiqV0