Pope Leo XIV urged Cameroon's young people on Friday to resist the temptation to migrate and instead work for the common good at home, as he called for morally upright citizens to combat corruption plaguing many African countries. The pontiff highlighted two critical challenges facing the continent during a Mass and a meeting with students and faculty at the Catholic University of Central Africa: the corruption that keeps countries in poverty and the brain drain of their brightest citizens who leave rather than fight the corruption at home.
"Africa, indeed, must be freed from the scourge of corruption," Leo said. "The greatness of a nation cannot be measured solely by the abundance of its natural resources, nor even by the material wealth of its institutions." He added, "No society, in fact, can flourish unless it is grounded in upright consciences, formed in the truth."
Mass Attendance Falls Short Amid Security Barriers
Leo began the day celebrating Mass in the port city of Douala, Cameroon's financial and economic hub on its western coast. The Vatican had expected as many as 600,000 would attend, but only around 120,000 made it. Cameroonian organizers suggested that security limitations and closed roads may have prevented many people from getting to the field, which was located well outside of town next to the Japoma sports stadium.
Some of those who did make it had spent the night on the ground, battling mosquitoes. Alex Nzumo, who arrived at the Mass on crutches, said, "I wanted to offer this effort to the pope, to show him that what he is doing and what he wants to accomplish should truly come to life." The field was buzzing with people singing, swaying and dancing as an announcer shouted "Habemus Papam!" The Latin phrase is used to announce the election of a new pope but in this case joyfully announced Leo's arrival at the field, where young people ran to keep up with his popemobile as he looped through the crowds.
In his homily, delivered in French and English, Leo urged young people to look beyond the poverty and disillusionment many experience and instead look to the future with hope. "Do not give in to distrust and discouragement," he said. "Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality and work."
Youth Bear Burden of Economic Inequality
With a population of 29 million, Cameroon is an overwhelmingly young country, where the median age is 18. Catholics represent about 29% of the population, and the country is a major source of growth and priestly vocations for the church. Leo had already offered words of encouragement to Cameroon's youth, including in his opening speech to Biya, in which he demanded the "chains of corruption" in Cameroon be broken.
But with Biya entrenched in power, Cameroon perhaps represents the most dramatic example of the tension between Africa's youth and the continent's many aging leaders. Despite being an oil-producing country experiencing modest economic growth, young people say the benefits have not trickled down beyond the elites. According to World Bank data, the unemployment rate in Cameroon stands at 3.5%, but 57% of the labor force aged 18 to 35 works in informal employment.
Brain Drain Strains Essential Services
The dire economic outlook in Cameroon has led to significant brain drain and has strained an already understaffed health sector, as many doctors and nurses are leaving the country for more lucrative jobs in Europe and North America. In 2023, about a third of trained doctors who graduate from medical school in Cameroon leave the country, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.
In his remarks at the university, Leo urged the students to resist the temptation to leave and to instead use their educations to improve life for themselves and their fellow citizens at home. "In the face of the understandable tendency to migrate — which may lead one to believe that elsewhere a better future may be more easily found — I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens," he said.
He warned that among the most pressing issues they must address is the advance of artificial intelligence and how it is altering the very relationship of people with the truth. "What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth," he said.
Why This Matters:
Cameroon's young population faces a crisis where systemic corruption and entrenched political power prevent economic benefits from reaching ordinary citizens, despite the country's oil resources and modest growth. The fact that 57% of young workers are trapped in informal employment and a third of newly trained doctors fled the country in 2023 reveals how institutional failures are driving away the very professionals needed to build stronger public services, particularly in healthcare. When security barriers and closed roads prevented hundreds of thousands of faithful from attending the papal Mass, it underscored how infrastructure and governance challenges affect citizens' basic freedoms. The pope's call to combat corruption and stay home to fight for change highlights the tension between individual survival through migration and the collective need for educated citizens to reform broken systems. Without addressing the structural inequalities that concentrate wealth among elites while leaving young people in precarious informal work, countries like Cameroon will continue losing their most skilled workers to wealthier nations, perpetuating cycles of underdevelopment and weakening the public institutions that serve the most vulnerable.