Walking into the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, on April 26, the pride and celebration hit you before you even found a seat. The Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington, D.C. area was gathering for their monthly Mass, but this wasn’t an ordinary Sunday Mass. Not only was the Catholic Women’s Organization of Cameroonian immigrants marking its 10th anniversary, but the community was also coming together to celebrate the recent historic visit of Pope Leo XIV to Cameroon.

Swaying down the center aisle, the Cameroonian women’s group led the opening procession for the Mass, followed by the concelebrating priests and the main celebrant, Bishop Jerome Feudjio of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, who is from Cameroon and is the first African-born bishop serving a United States diocese. The joyful singing by the Cameroonian women filled the church before they veered off to the designated choir seats as the Mass began.

An altar server holds a candle before the opening procession for a Mass for Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington area held on April 26, 2026 at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland. (Catholic Standard photo by Andrew Biraj)

The concelebrating priests included Father John M. Barry, the pastor of Resurrection Parish; and seven priests from Cameroon. Also assisting at the Mass were three deacons from Cameroon, and seminarians from that country were in attendance.

The congregation filling the pews – including the Catholic Women’s Organization and other Cameroonian immigrants – wore colorful and vibrant traditional African church wear. Bishop Feudjio opened with a song, “This is the Day” and the congregation answered him in full voice. As the Mass went on, songs moved between Pidgin and English, the kind of worship that felt like home. When member of the Catholic Women’s Organization danced the lectionary to the altar and Bishop Feudjio lifted it, the congregation erupted in jubilation.

Members of the Catholic Women’s Organization drawn from Cameroonian immigrants in the Washington area participate in a lectionary procession during an April 26 Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland. The lectionary was handed to the main celebrant, Bishop Jerome Feudjio of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, who is from Cameroon and is the first African-born bishop serving a United States diocese. (Catholic Standard photos by Andrew Biraj)

In his homily, Bishop Feudjio congratulated the Catholic Women’s Organization for reaching the 10 year milestone before turning to challenge the entire community. He called on the community to commit more deeply to ministry, service, sacrifice, and witness. The bishop emphasized the importance of working together. stating, “A single hand can’t tie a bundle,” and he said the women’s group had been among the hands holding that community together for a decade.

Bishop Feudjio tied in Scripture, urging the congregation to listen for the voice of the Holy Spirit, and acknowledged the importance of women’s leadership as being fundamental to the Church. “The wisdom of women is the neck that turns the head,” he said. “A strong Catholic women’s organization becomes a protective gate for a parish, a neighborhood, a community, the diocese. They act as guardians of the domestic church, and no one feels alone.”

Bishop Jerome Feudjio gives the homily during an April 26 Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, for the Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington area. Bishop Feudjio of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands is from Cameroon, and he is the first African-born bishop serving a United States diocese. (Catholic Standard photo by Andrew Biraj)

When Pope Leo XIV landed in Yaoundé, the capital city of Cameroon on April 15, he became only the third pope in history to visit that country, following Pope St. John Paul II’s visits in 1985 and 1995, and Pope Benedict XVI’s visit in 2009.

Pope Leo XIV used his 11-day, four-nation African tour as a global platform to speak out against war and corruption, and to uphold the dignity of human life. Days before the papal visit to Cameroon, a three-day ceasefire was declared by the separatist alliance in English-speaking regions to allow civilians and visitors to move freely during the pope’s stay. The visit intersected with the ongoing Anglophone crisis, a separatist conflict that began in 2017 and has claimed more than 6,500 lives and displaced more than 500,000 people.

At a peace meeting in Bamenda, Cameroon, thousands lined the streets to receive Pope Leo. Local Catholic leaders expressed hope that the visit could bring about “tangible miracles” for peace. A blind woman at the airport stayed behind shouting “I have greeted the pope,” while a little girl in Bamenda broke through the crowd to embrace him, becoming a symbol for the entire nation.

People pray during an April 26 Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, for the Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington, D.C. area. (Catholic Standard photos by Andrew Biraj)

The Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington, D.C. area has been finding its footing in the DMV for more than two decades. In 2005, the D.C. area was home to one of the largest Cameroonian immigrant populations in the United States. That same year, a group of Cameroonians began searching for something familiar, a Mass that looked and felt like worship back home. A community-styled Mass was organized and first held at the Crypt Church in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Lambert Mbom, an architect and Cameroonian Catholic Community coordinator, sought out a permanent parish location. With the help of Jude Ambe, Ita Ngang, and Lucia Chuo of Resurrection Parish, they asked Father Bob Keffer, who was then the pastor there, for permission to hold their monthly Mass, and in June 2006 the Church of the Resurrection became home to that community. A second group, the Catholic Women’s Organization, formed in 2016. The parish has had two Cameroonian priests in residence since 2019. The community is proud to mention that they have produced a priest, Father Bening Achi, who emerged from the Cameroonian choir there.

For Father Herbert Niba, the co-chaplain of the Cameroonian Catholic Community in the Washington area who is currently in residence at Resurrection Parish, the moment carried personal weight. Niba said the papal visit stirred memories of his own experience when Pope Benedict XVI visited Cameroon in 2009, and he was one of the choir members who sang after an intense two month preparation period in anticipation of that papal visit. Niba noted the timing of Pope Leo’s visit added a special impact for the local community, calling it a “divine coincidence.”

Women sing during an April 26 Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, for the Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington, D.C. area. (Catholic Standard photos by Andrew Biraj)

Last September, the CCC-WDC joined the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington to mark the 40th anniversary of Pope St. John Paul II’s historic visit to Cameroon, which was the first papal visit to the country. Father Niba encouraged his community and country to use this time to “unveil the best of what these papal visits have given to us.” He also pointed to what he called the “reverse missionary train,” the growing presence of African priests ministering in the diaspora, as evidence of the lasting fruit of the papal outreach to the African church and community.

Pius Ambe, chairman emeritus of the CCC-WDC who led the community from 2016 to 2024, was a young elementary school student in Bafut, Cameroon for Pope St. John Paul II’s first visit in 1985. Watching Pope Leo return to the same villages decades later was nostalgic for him. Ambe noted, “Cameroon is in great need of healing, in great need of peace.” He said Pope Leo “brought with him a balm to heal the pain that people have gone through for so many years, feeling unseen and abandoned.”

Ambe acknowledged the frustration some Cameroonians felt toward the Church during the conflict, believing it had not spoken forcefully enough for justice. For him, Pope Leo’s presence in Bamenda addressed that directly. “There’s no peace without justice,” he said. “The pope coming and speaking very openly and candidly was refreshing. It has helped to heal and uplift people, renewing their hope and increasing their faith.”

During an April 26 Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, for the Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington area, Bishop Jerome Feudjio of the Diocese of Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands gives Communion to a woman and blesses a girl. Bishop Feudjio, who is from Cameroon, is the first African-born bishop serving a United States diocese. (Catholic Standard photos by Andrew Biraj)

Ngang Ita, president of the Catholic Women’s Organization of Cameroonian immigrants, said the visit sent a message that extended beyond Cameroon’s borders. For Ita, Pope Leo’s presence on African soil signaled that the faith of the Church is rooted in Africa and the pope’s interest in the continent gives Cameroonians everywhere a deeper sense of belonging. Even from Maryland, she said, gatherings like the one at Resurrection Parish “serve as a reminder of home and a reaffirmation of their place in the universal Church.”

For Emmanuel Grangni Nyasa, current pastoral council chairperson of the Cameroonian Catholic Community in the Washington area, the visit came down to one thing: unity, both within the African church and among Cameroonians here in the diaspora. “The greatest man of our faith bringing his presence brought much needed peace,” Nyasa said. “The Holy Father’s presence unites the whole of Africa as a community to do what we are supposed to do as Catholics.”

At the Church of the Resurrection, Bishop Feudjio brought the Mass to a close as the Catholic Women’s Organization filled the church with song. Before the final blessing, that group offered a tribute to the Blessed Mother, their patron saint, and dedicated flowers in her honor.

Near the end of an April 26 Mass at the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, for the Cameroonian Catholic Community of the Washington area, members of the Catholic Women’s Organization of immigrants from that African nation honor the Blessed Mother with flowers. (Catholic Standard photo by Andrew Biraj)

Then the celebration spilled out of the pews to downstairs, where the congregation ate, drank, sang, and danced, marking not only a decade of the women’s group but a papal visit that reminded them, even from 5,000 miles away, that they had not been forgotten.

Culled from Catholic Standard

In a half-day visit to the economic capital of Cameroon Friday, Pope Leo offered the local population an extended reflection on the just and equitable distribution of resources in a country notorious for corruption.

In his April 17 homily at Japoma Stadium in Douala, the pope framed his message in the context of the day’s Gospel reading recounting Jesus’s multiplication of the loaves and fish upon discovering there was not enough food to feed the hungry crowd gathered to hear him preach.

Seeing the problem of inadequate resources, he said, “Jesus asks us today, just as he asked his disciples then: How will you solve this problem? Look at all these hungry people, weighed down by fatigue. What will you do?”

“This question is posed to each one of us,” Leo said, saying it applies to families trying to make ends meet, as well as the pastors of the church and to “those who bear social and political responsibility for the people and seek their well-being.”

Every person, strong or weak, rich or poor, has the same hunger, and nourishment is necessary in order to live, he said, asking, “where is God in the face of people’s hunger?”

Jesus offers his own answer to this question when he took the loaves and fish, gave thanks to God, and distributed them among the crowd.

“A serious problem was solved by blessing the little food that was present and sharing it with all who were hungry. The multiplication of the loaves and the fish happened while sharing: that is the miracle,” the pope said, saying, “There is bread for everyone if it is given to everyone.”

There is enough bread for everyone, Pope Leo said, “if it is taken, not with a hand that snatches away, but with a hand that gives.”

He highlighted Jesus’s act of gratitude to God before performing the miracle, saying this is what made the food abundant.

“It was not rationed out of necessity. It was not stolen in strife. It was not wasted by those who gorge themselves in the presence of those who have nothing to eat,” but rather, passing from Jesus, to his disciples, and then to the people, “the food increased for everyone; indeed, it was superabundant.”

When the crowds immediately declaring Jesus to be a prophet, Jesus, Leo said, “did not use those words for personal gain. He did not want to become king, because he had come to serve with love, not to dominate,” but to serve the good of all.

Pope Leo spoke on his third day in Cameroon, which is part of a broader April 13-23 tour of Africa that began in Algeria, and which will also take him to Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

He will celebrate Mass in the capital city of Yaoundé Saturday before flying to the Angolan capital of Luanda.

A consistent appeal

Pope Leo, whose very name and magisterium so far are seeped in issues of social justice, spent over two decades as a missionary in Peru, serving in the country’s most impoverished regions in the north during a massive financial and political crisis, leading to terrorism and widespread social instability.

Throughout the nearly complete first year of his pontificate, Leo has condemned income inequalities and the unjust distribution of wealth, saying in an exclusive interview for this journalist’s biography of his life, Pope Leo XIV: The Biography, set for publication in English later this month, that employers now make around 600 times more than their employees.

In that interview, he questioned extreme wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, noting that last summer Elon Musk was declared the first trillionaire in the world, saying, “What does that mean and what’s that about? And if that is the only thing that has value anymore, then we’re in big trouble. We have to talk about these things.”

Later, in a general audience Dec. 17, he condemned bloated, “out of control” investment portfolios of the extremely wealthy, while vast portions of the global population live in poverty.

“In the heart that true treasure is kept, not in earthly safes, not in large financial investments, which today more than ever before are out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation,” he said on that occasion.

Continuing to drive this point, this time speaking from a continent whose lands are notoriously exploited by foreign powers and extractive industries for resources while their populations live in poverty, indicates this will be a consistent major talking point for the American missionary pontiff.

A message to Cameroon

Pope Leo’s visit to Douala for Mass took him to the economic capital of Cameroon, which is currently afflicted by violent protests and paralysis over President Paul Biya’s disputed re-election last October.

Barricades, looting, and violent clashes with security forces have afflicted the city for the past six months, threatening the national economy and general social stability in a nation already gripped by violence amid the ongoing Anglophone Crisis.

One of central Africa’s largest ports, Douala has been the site of its own spat of violence as authorities resorted to forceful measures to quell protests against Biya’s election, and the population is still reeling.

Some Cameroonians feared the papal visit could lend support to Biya, 93, who has ruled since 1982 and is the world’s oldest head of state. Pope Leo met with Biya privately on his first day in Cameroon.

Cameroon, notorious for corrupt practices such as bribery, embezzlement, and nepotism, is rich in natural resources such as oil, timber, cocoa, coffee and minerals, which for decades have been pillaged by both large foreign firms and local elites.

Some 600,000 people were expected to turn out for the pope’s Mass in Douala; however, the crowds were notably smaller, perhaps due to extreme heat and tight security.

Catholics in Cameroon make up around a third of the population of 30 million, and play a fundamental role in the country’s social life. After Mass, the pope is set to visit Saint Paul’s Catholic hospital before returning to Yaoundé, where he will meet with university students and professors.

Equality as rooted in love

In his homily, symbolically delivered in both French and English, the pope said Jesus’s multiplication of the loaves and fish was done primarily as an act of love for the people, which is why it is seen as a foreshadowing of the Eucharist.

“It shows us not only how God provides humanity with the bread of life, but how we can share this sustenance with all men and women who, like ourselves, hunger for peace, freedom and justice,” he said.

Each act of solidarity and forgiveness and every effort to improve one’s circumstances, he said, “becomes a morsel of bread for humanity in need of care.”

“Yet this alone is not enough,” he said, saying it must also be accompanied by acts of charity that feed the soul, forming the conscience and sustaining people “in dark hours of fear and amid the shadows of suffering.”

In this regard, Leo stressed the importance of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, which he said, “does not merely revive a distant memory; it brings about a ‘companionship’ that transforms us because it sanctifies us.”

The Eucharist, he said, is “a proclamation of hope amid the trials of history and the injustices we see around us.”

“By becoming man to save us, he chose to share in the simplest and most everyday needs of humanity. Hunger thus speaks to us not only of our poverty but, above all, of his love,” he said.

Pope Leo urged attendees to remember this whenever they see someone who lacks life’s basic necessities.

“Through their eyes, the question that Jesus posed to his disciples is repeated: ‘What are you going to do for all these people?’” he said.

He cautioned that being a true witness to Christ and imitating his love for others implies facing certain difficulties and obstacles, “from without and from within us, where pride can corrupt the heart.”

The pope then offered a special message to young people, who make up the majority of the African continent, telling them to be “the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life to your neighbors.”

He told youth to provide others primarily “with the food of wisdom and deliverance from all that does not nourish them but rather obscures good desires and robs them of their dignity.”

In this regard, Leo lamented that despite Cameroon’s wealth of natural resources, “many experience both material and spiritual poverty.”

“Do not give in to distrust and discouragement. Reject every form of abuse or violence, which deceives by promising easy gains but hardens the heart and makes it insensitive,” he said.

Pope Leo likewise told youths not to let themselves “be corrupted by temptations that waste your energies and do not serve the progress of society.”

He noted that Jesus carried out his ministry in spite of threats, persecution and urged them to continue proclaiming the Gospel even amid difficulty, saying, “Christian proclamation changes our lives, transforming minds and hearts.”

“Proclaiming the risen Jesus means leaving signs of justice in a suffering and oppressed land, signs of peace amid rivalry and corruption, signs of faith that free us from superstition and indifference,” he said, closing his remarks.

Source: Crux

Pope Leo XIV is continuing his official visit to Cameroon after arriving in Yaounde on April 15, 2026, as part of an African tour that began in Algeria. He is expected in Douala on Friday, April 17.

The visit has prompted extensive security and logistical measures, particularly affecting traffic. In a radio statement issued on April 14, the governor of the Littoral region, Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, outlined arrangements in the economic capital. The pope’s programme includes a mass at the Japoma Sports Complex, followed by a private visit to Saint Paul Catholic Hospital.

A special traffic plan will be in place from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to ensure security and facilitate movements. It will mainly cover the route from Douala International Airport to the Japoma complex, then to Saint Paul Hospital, before returning to the airport.

Significant restrictions are expected, with diversions and route changes. Drivers travelling to and from Edea must use the Dibamba–Japoma–Nkolmbong–Nyalla-Rails corridor, with options via Total Logbaba or PK 12.

For drivers from Bonaberi, alternative routes include the Deido roundabout, either through Ndokoti and Nyalla or via Bonamoussadi, Logpom and Logbessou. Residents of Douala’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd districts are also advised to use these bypass routes.

Authorities have designated crossing points at key locations, including the Nelson Mandela interchange and intersections at Billes, Ndogpassi and Yassa, to reduce disruption. Some areas will be completely closed to traffic to secure the papal motorcade. Traffic may also be temporarily halted during the mass before gradually returning to normal after the pope’s departure.

In Yaounde, where the pope began his visit, authorities also implemented a traffic plan. According to the national police, the measures aim to maintain order, security and smooth traffic flow. Some main routes have been restricted or temporarily closed, and residents were advised to avoid affected areas.

These measures are already affecting residents, who must contend with detours and disruptions. Despite this, the visit has raised strong interest among the faithful. For Cameroon, it carries religious, symbolic and diplomatic significance.

Source: Business in Cameroon

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Cameroon on Wednesday where he delivered a masterclass on wielding authority legitimately to President Paul Biya, who consolidated his four-decade grip on power with a contested election last year that gave him an eighth term in office.

The Vatican had said fighting corruption in the mineral-rich central African country would be one of the themes of Leo’s visit, and the American pope didn’t hold back in addressing Biya and government authorities in an address at the presidential palace.

“In order for peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption — which disfigure authority and strip it of its credibility — must be broken,” Leo said. “Hearts must be set free from an idolatrous thirst for profit.”

Biya, who at 93 is the world’s oldest leader, sat passively as Leo read his speech in French. Cameroonian television halted its live feed for parts of Leo’s speech, but it wasn’t clear if technical issues were to blame.

The Vatican has made clear that Catholic social teaching disapproves of the types of authoritarian leaders that Leo is encountering on his four-nation African visit.

The highlight of Leo’s visit will be a “peace meeting” on Thursday in Cameroon’s northwest city of Bamenda, which has been plagued by separatist violence.

Pope calls for a ‘bold leap’

Biya has led Cameroon since 1982 and just Tuesday signed into law a bill that reintroduces the vice president position, a move the opposition says will further strengthen his grip on power.

Cameroon’s opposition has contested the result of the Oct. 12 election that secured another victory for Biya. His rival Issa Tchiroma Bakary claims to have won and has called on Cameroonians to reject the official result.

Leo told Biya that Cameroon needed to take “a bold leap forward” to impose transparency in public finances and integrate civil society organizations into the fabric of daily life.

Young people in general — and women in particular — had a vital role to play in bringing Cameroon into a new dawn, he said.

“Their commitment to education, mediation and the rebuilding of the social fabric is unparalleled and serves to curb corruption and abuses of power. For this reason, too, their voice must be fully recognized in decision- making processes,” Leo said.

The pope, who wrote his canon law dissertation on the wielding of authority by Augustinian religious superiors, cited St. Augustine on the correct role of political leaders that he said was relevant today.

“Those who rule serve those whom they seem to command; for they rule not from a love of power, but from a sense of the duty they owe to others,” he said, quoting Augustine.

He added: “From this perspective, serving one’s country means dedicating oneself, with a clear mind and an upright conscience, to the common good of all people in the nation.”

‘Light entering a dark room’

Cheering Cameroonians gave Leo a raucous welcome, the first pope to visit since Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. They lined the road into the capital Yaounde from the airport, two and three deep in places, dancing and waving palm fronds as the pope’s motorcade whizzed by.

Many women dressed in identical bright dresses and stood behind banners announcing the name of their parish, while billboards splashed posters of the pope and Biya under the banner “Land of Hope.”

Gerald Mambeh, a Catholic teacher in Yaounde, said the pope’s visit needs to spark genuine dialogue and accountability to achieve lasting peace.

“This visit feels like light entering a dark room … but peace will not come from symbolism alone,” said Mambeh. “In a country where many feel abandoned, his presence feels like God has not forgotten us. Let the pope hear this beyond the politics: Cameroonians are not asking for miracles, we are asking for fairness, dignity, and a future.”

‘Share in the national cake’

Cameroon has significant reserves of oil, natural gas, cobalt, bauxite, iron ore, gold and diamonds. The extractive sector accounts for nearly a third of the country’s exports, according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

But rights groups and the Catholic Church say revenues from extraction rarely reach the rural and indigenous communities that live closest to mining and drilling operations, while foreign companies and a small national elite capture most of the profits.

Leo said such a status quo cannot remain.

“Transparency in the management of public resources and respect for the rule of law are essential to restoring trust,” he said. “It is time to examine our conscience and take a bold leap forward.”

Public official Angelica Ambe Mundi said she was touched by Leo’s message. After he finished, she stepped forward and gently touched his chair before pressing her hand to her chest. She then knelt in quiet reverence.

“He spoke about the even distribution of state resources… violence comes when people feel disgruntled, when they are marginalized,” she told The Associated Press.

For her, his words cut to the core of Cameroon’s unrest: “People get violent when they are hungry. To stop violence, every Cameroonian must feel they belong — and share in the national cake.”

Pause in fighting

English-speaking separatists launched a rebellion in 2017 with the stated goal of breaking away from Cameroon’s French-speaking majority and establishing an independent state. The conflict has killed more than 6,000 people and displaced over 600,000 others, according to the International Crisis Group, a think tank.

On the eve of Leo’s arrival, the English-speaking separatists announced a three-day pause in fighting to allow “safe travel” for his visit.

The Unity Alliance, which includes several separatist groups, said in a statement Monday that the pause reflects the “profound spiritual importance” of the pope’s visit and is intended to allow civilians, pilgrims and dignitaries to travel safely.

Biya, who has shunned dialogue with the English-speaking separatists, spoke of a world in need of tolerance and hope as a replacement for “the voice of arms.”

“The world needs the message of peace, justice, tolerance, forgiveness, and love that you embody,” he told Leo.

Source: AP