Pope leads prayers at Angola's main Marian shrine

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Source: Vatican Media

On Sunday afternoon, tens of thousands of faithful gathered in Muxima, the most important pilgrimage site in Angola, to pray the Rosary with the Holy Father. Nearly 130 kilometres from Luanda, it houses the shrine of Mamã Muxima, meaning Mother of the Heart, the Kimbundu name the people of Angola give Our Lady.

Fr Daniel Malamba, a Divine Word Missionary, explained that "for the faithful in Angola, Mamã Muxima is everything." Angolan religiosity is firmly rooted in love for her, he said, which is why so many people wanted to see the Pope alongside Our Lady.

Many of the faithful expressed their joy at the opportunity to join the Pope in honouring Mamã Muxima. "She listens to our prayers" and is there "for all the problems that we have," said Conceição António, who was there with a group of pilgrims.

Fernanda, a volunteer helping out at the event, said many people had arrived days earlier, camping out in tents to prepare to welcome the Holy Father.

Their patience was finally rewarded when Pope Leo arrived in a helicopter from Luanda. He prayed inside the chapel at the shrine and left white flowers at the foot of the statue of Mamã Muxima. He then sped through the crowd in the popemobile, people cheering and running after him, trying to get as close as possible to the Successor of Peter.

After the Marian prayer, the Pope told the people present that praying the Rosary commits one "to loving every person with a mother's heart-concretely and generously-and to dedicating [oneself] to the good of one another, especially the poorest."

Addressing young people, he urged them to work towards a world free from war, injustice, poverty, and corruption. "It is love that must triumph, not war," he said.

The Holy Father then returned to the Apostolic Nunciature in Luanda for the night.