Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Pontiff celebrates mass in Angola

Pontiff celebrates mass in Angola

Advertisement

Crowds greet the Pope in Angola

Pope Benedict XVI is due to attend mass in Angola's capital Luanda, on the last stop of his week-long African tour.

The pontiff, who arrived in Angola on Friday from Cameroon, will later meet youths at a city football stadium.

On Friday, he made an emphatic appeal to Africans to rid the continent of corruption once and for all.

The 81-year-old said in a televised address in Luanda that Africans could transform their continent with integrity, magnanimity and compassion.

Thousands of people welcomed the Pope at Luanda's airport, the BBC's Louise Redvers says.

Angolans cheers the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Luanda (20 March 2009)

The Pope said in his address that Africans needed "a firm determination to change hearts and finally put a stop, once and for all, to corruption".

Benedict's speech was echoed by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who has been Angola's leader for the past three decades and through a civil war which has left hundreds of thousands dead.

He said Angolans were "looking for the best ways to rebuild what was destroyed in the recent past, and to build a modern society that will integrate all the people without discrimination or exclusion".

Mr dos Santos' party won elections last year that critics said were marred by fraud and corruption.

Angola, a former Portuguese colony, is rich in diamonds and oil, but war has left most of its people in poverty.

The Pope sparked controversy earlier on his tour for remarks refusing to advocate condoms as a way to help stop HIV/Aids, prompting France, Holland and even the pontiff's native Germany expressed concern.

No comments: