By Ngouda Dione and Joshua McElwee
DOUALA, Cameroon, April 17 (Reuters) – Thousands of people were crowding into a stadium in Douala, Cameroon’s largest city and economic hub, for a Mass with Pope Leo on Friday that will likely be the biggest event of the pontiff’s four-nation Africa tour.
The Vatican is expecting about 600,000 to throng the streets around Japoma Stadium to be part of the celebration and hear an address from the pope, who has become outspoken on war and inequality and drawn the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Amid a heavy security presence, some Cameroonians made their way to the stadium on Thursday, sleeping there overnight so they could witness Leo speak in person.
“It was difficult – the cold, the mosquitoes and everything,” said one participant, Kevin Kaegam.
“But since we want to see the supreme pontiff, we had no choice.”
Leo, the first U.S. pope, on Thursday criticised leaders who spend billions on wars and, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon, said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”.
‘MOMENT OF JOY’ FOR CAMEROON’S CATHOLICS
He landed in Douala after a one-hour flight from Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital. He will spend about four hours in Douala, where he will also visit a Catholic hospital, before returning to Yaounde.
On a 10-day tour across Africa, the pontiff has decried violations of international law by “neocolonial” world powers and said “the whims of the rich and powerful” threaten peace.
Cameroon, a producer of oil and cocoa, faces grave security challenges, including a simmering Anglophone conflict in which thousands of people have been killed since 2017.
The country has been led for more than four decades by President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state at 93. His re-election last October sparked protests by opponents who say most ordinary Cameroonians have little to show for his rule.
Security forces killed 48 civilians during those protests, U.N. sources told Reuters in November, nearly half of them in the Littoral region which includes Douala.
In a forceful speech in the presence of Biya on Wednesday, Leo called on Cameroon’s political leaders to break “the chains of corruption” in the country.
Crowds greeting the pope on his visit to Cameroon have been enthusiastic, lining the streets along his routes and wearing colourful fabrics featuring images of his face.
Bishop Leopold Bayemi Matjei called Leo’s visit “a moment of great joy” and said he hoped it meant God would bless Cameroon.
“Our country needs a lot of blessing, a powerful blessing, so that hope will come to rise again,” said the bishop, who leads the Church in Obala, about an hour north of Yaounde.
(Reporting by Ngouda Dione in Douala and Joshua McElwee in Yaounde; Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Gareth Jones)
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