Pope lashes out at foreigners who exploit Africa

Pope Leo XIV has criticised foreigners who exploit the wealth of Africa for profit during his visit to a conflict-hit region of Cameroon. It is one of several forthright remarks he has made over the last day, including blasting those who spend billions on wars and telling Cameroon's government to root out corruption for peace to prevail. He has spe...

Pope Leo XIV has criticised foreigners who exploit the wealth of Africa for profit during his visit to a conflict-hit region of Cameroon.

It is one of several forthright remarks he has made over the last day, including blasting those who spend billions on wars and telling Cameroon's government to root out corruption for peace to prevail.

He has spent the day in Bamenda, a city at the centre of Cameroon's brutal and long-running separatist rebellion.

Internal problems were exacerbated by outsiders who "in the name of profit, continue to lay their hands on the African continent to exploit and plunder it", he told an estimated 20,000 worshippers at a Mass at Bamenda Airport.