Pope Leo XIV touched down in Cameroon for the second leg of his 10-day trip to Africa.
He’s bringing a message of peace to its separatist region, where fighters have announced a three-day pause in fighting.
The Vatican says fighting corruption in the mineral-rich country and insisting on the correct uses of political authority are expected to be themes of Leo’s visit, which starts in Yaounde, the capital.
Leo was traveling from Algeria, the first stop on his four-nation Africa tour.
The Vatican has made clear that Catholic social teaching disapproves of the types of authoritarian leaders that Leo is encountering on his visit, the first to the continent by history’s first U.S.-born pope.
Biya is the world’s oldest leader and has led Cameroon since 1982.
Leo will meet with Biya upon arrival at the presidential palace in Yaounde.
He’ll then address government authorities, civil service representatives and diplomats before visiting an orphanage run by a Catholic religious order of nuns.
Cameroon authorities made a last-minute change to the program, the Vatican said.
Biya, and not the prime minister, will deliver a speech before Leo addresses authorities and the encounter will occur in the presidential palace, not a conference center.
He spoke to reporters aboard the Papal plane enroute to Yaounde from Algeria about his joy at being to visit Algeria and follow in the footsteps of St. Augustine.
“It was a special blessing for me personally to return once again to Annaba yesterday, but also to offer to the church and the world a vision that St. Augustine offers us in terms of that search for God and the struggle to build community, to seek for unity among all peoples and a respect for all peoples in spite of the differences,” he said.
He repeated his calls for peace and dialogue but did not directly address the continued criticism he has received from U.S. President Donald Trump.
