Pope Leo XIV has issued a direct appeal to young Africans to resist the pull of emigration and instead devote their talents to building their countries from within, describing corruption and brain drain as the two gravest threats facing the continent’s future.
The Pope made the remarks on Friday, April 17, during a meeting with students and faculty at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé, Cameroon, on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. He also celebrated Mass in the port city of Douala earlier that day.
Leo focused his address on two interconnected crises: the corruption keeping African countries in poverty and the brain drain pulling their brightest citizens away instead of staying to confront it.
Acknowledging the appeal of opportunities abroad, the Pope nonetheless called on students to make a different choice. He urged them to respond to the understandable tendency to migrate with an ardent desire to serve their country, emphasising that Africa profoundly needs the knowledge and dedication of its educated youth to uplift communities at home.
He told the gathering that Africa must be freed from the scourge of corruption, and warned that the greatness of a nation cannot be measured by the abundance of its natural resources or the material wealth of its institutions alone. He said no society can truly flourish unless it is grounded in upright consciences formed in truth.
The economic pressures behind emigration are acute in Cameroon, where a significant brain drain has strained an already understaffed health sector, with many doctors and nurses leaving for more lucrative opportunities in Europe and North America.
The Vatican had expected up to 600,000 people to attend the Mass in Douala, but around 120,000 made it to the Japoma Stadium.
NewsGhana reported earlier this month that the Pope departed Rome on April 13 on an 11-day apostolic tour covering Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, with migration, corruption, peace, and environmental stewardship as central themes across all four stops.
