Pope hails peacemaking efforts of Christian, Muslim leaders in Cameroon
April 16, 2026
Pope Leo XIV traveled today from Cameroon’s capital of Yaoundé to Bamenda (video), where he praised the efforts of local Christian and Muslim leaders to promote peace amid the Anglophone Crisis, an armed conflict that began in 2017.
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Today is the fourth day of the Pontiff’s apostolic journey to four African nations, and his second day in Cameroon. At a meeting for peace inside and outside St. Joseph Cathedral in Bamenda (video), Pope Leo praised the efforts of local Christian and Muslim leaders to promote peace.
“I am here to proclaim peace,” Pope Leo said. “Yet I find it is you who are proclaiming peace to me, and to the entire world.”
“As one of you observed, the crisis impacting these regions of Cameroon has brought Christian and Muslim communities closer than ever before,” the Pope continued. “Indeed, your religious leaders have come together to establish a Movement for Peace, through which they seek to mediate between the opposing sides.”
Pope Leo commented:
I wish this would happen in so many other places of the world. Your witness, your work for peace can be a model for the whole world! Jesus told us: Blessed are the peacemakers! But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. Yes, my dear sisters and brothers, you who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor, merciful, meek, and pure of heart, you who have wept—you are the light of the world! (cf. Mt 5:3-14)
The Pontiff then condemned the “masters of war.”
“The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet a lifetime is often not enough to rebuild,” Pope Leo said. “They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration are nowhere to be found.”
“Those who rob your land of its resources generally invest much of the profit in weapons, thus perpetuating an endless cycle of destabilization and death,” he continued. “It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience. We must make a decisive change of course—a true conversion—that will lead us in the opposite direction, onto a sustainable path rich in human fraternity.
Pope Leo added:
The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters! They are the descendants of Abraham, as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Let us look into each other’s eyes: we are this immense people!
Peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbor as our brother and as our sister. We do not choose our brothers and sisters: we simply must accept one another! We are one family, inhabiting the same home: this wonderful planet that ancient cultures have cared for across millennia.
CWN coverage of Pope Leo’s apostolic journey to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea:
Day 1 (April 13)
- Pope departs for Africa
- Pope Leo: ‘I have no fear of the Trump administration’
- I am ‘very happy’ to visit the land of St. Augustine, Pope says on flight to Algeria
- ‘The future belongs to men and women of peace,’ Pope says in first Algerian address
- Pope calls on Algeria’s leaders to promote ‘vibrant, dynamic, and free civil society’
- Pope visits Great Mosque of Algiers, recalls St. Augustine’s search for truth
- Pope emphasizes prayer, charity, unity in address to Algerian Catholics
Day 2 (April 14)
Day 3 (April 15)
- Pope bids farewell to Algeria, departs for Cameroon
- Pope, in remarks to journalists, highlights importance, relevance of St. Augustine
- Pope calls on Cameroon to embrace peace, break chains of corruption
- ‘Jesus cares especially for children like you,’ Pope tells orphans in Cameroon
Day 4 (April 16)
- Pope hails peacemaking efforts of Christian, Muslim leaders in Cameroon
- Now is the time to change this country, Pope preaches in Cameroon
- Pope meets with several Muslim leaders in Cameroon
Day 5 (April 17)
- ‘Bring the bread of life to your neighbors,’ Pope preaches in Cameroon’s largest city
- Societies flourish on the foundation of upright consciences that seek the truth, Pope tells university students
Day 6 (April 18)
- Draw near to the suffering and the poor, as Jesus did, Pope preaches at final Cameroon Mass
- Pope Leo departs from Cameroon, says his remarks there did not refer to President Trump
- Pope hails joy of Angola’s people, denounces extractivism
Day 7 (April 19)
- Pope, at Mass in Angola, warns faithful against syncretism, encourages them to ‘become like broken bread’
- Pope renews call for peace in Ukraine, Middle East
- May the Mother of the Heart make our hearts like hers, Pope says at Rosary in Angola
Day 8 (April 20)
- Pope flies to remote Angolan city, visits nursing home
- Reject superstition and follow Christ in freedom, Pope preaches at Mass in Angola
- ‘The first path is fidelity to Christ,’ Pope tells Angola’s priests and religious
Day 9 (April 21)
- Pope departs from Angola, heads to Equatorial Guinea
- Addressing journalists, Pope Leo recalls Pope Francis, says no date set to name new cardinals
- Serve the city of God and not love of self, Pope exhorts Equatorial Guinea’s leaders
- In Christ, the harmony between truth, reason, and freedom is manifest, Pope tells university community
- In Christian civilization, the sick are loved, Pope says at psychiatric hospital
Day 10 (April 22)
- Pope emphasizes the Eucharist and evangelization at Mass in Equatorial Guinea
- Pope tells prisoners: ‘No one is excluded from God’s love!’
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