Pope Leo Speaks Out Against Exploitation of Africa’s Resources

Pope Leo XIV , who is on a four-nation African tour, condemned the exploitation of the continent’s resources and warned that the practice was a recipe for discontent and upheaval.

“Too often your lands have been looked at in order to give, or more frequently, to take something. It is necessary to break this chain of interests that reduces reality and life itself to a mere commodity,” the head of the Roman Catholic Church said in a speech in Luanda, Angola’s capital, on Saturday. “This extractive logic brings suffering, death and social and environmental disasters in every part of the world.”