{"id":32274,"date":"2026-04-17T12:07:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:07:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32274"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T10:07:37","slug":"crowds-gather-in-cameroon-for-biggest-event-of-pope-leos-africa-tour","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/crowds-gather-in-cameroon-for-biggest-event-of-pope-leos-africa-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowds gather in Cameroon for biggest event of Pope Leo&#8217;s Africa tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"x_divRplyFwdMsg\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<div aria-hidden=\"true\" data-olk-copy-source=\"MessageBody\"><span style=\"background-color: var(--global--color-background); color: var(--global--color-primary); font-family: var(--global--font-secondary); font-size: var(--global--font-size-base);\">Thousands of people were crowding into a stadium in \u200cDouala, Cameroon&#8217;s largest city and economic hub, for a Mass with Pope Leo on Friday that will likely be the biggest event of the pontiff&#8217;s four nation Africa tour.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>The Vatican is expecting about 600 000 to throng the streets around Japoma Stadium to be part of the celebration and hear an \u200baddress from the pope, who has become outspoken on war and inequality and drawn the ire of \u200bUnited States President Donald Trump.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Amid a heavy security presence, some Cameroonians made their way to the \u2060stadium on Thursday, sleeping there overnight so they could witness Pope speak in person.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It was difficult, the cold, \u200bthe mosquitoes and everything,&#8221; said one participant, Kevin Kaegam.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;But since we want to see the supreme pontiff, we had no \u200bchoice.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div>Pope on Thursday criticised leaders who spend billions on wars and, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon, said the world was &#8220;being ravaged by a handful of tyrants&#8221;.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"ltr\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"x_elementToProof\">&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21637,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-32274","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"","published_date":"","news_description":"Pope Leo in Cameroon","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32275,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32274\/revisions\/32275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}