Pope Leo XIV's words to the youth of Cameroon on corruption and emigration

On Monday, April 13, Pope Leo XIV began an apostolic journey through Africa, specifically through Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.

Leo XIV claims “the dignity of every person”, including “the unborn”
Leo XIV's denunciation of the growing attacks on freedom of expression and their origin

Last Friday, April 17, at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yuandé, Cameroon, the Pope delivered a speech to the university community (it can be read in full here). I have read it and I must admit that I am increasingly impressed by Robert Francis Prevost's brilliant way of speaking. Leo XIV strikes me as a great intellectual, and I believe this is very necessary in today's world, where the most sophisticated ideas, reasoning, and sound arguments seem to be in clear retreat in the face of an avalanche of irrationality, clichés, and memes.

“No society, in fact, can flourish unless it is grounded in upright consciences”

There are two parts of that speech that particularly caught my attention. In one of them, he spoke of the greatness and wealth of a nation, issues that are much discussed today—as in the past—but often forgetting what truly makes us rich and great:

"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. No society, in fact, can flourish unless it is grounded in upright consciences, formed in the truth. In this sense, the motto of your university — “In the service of truth and justice” — reminds you that the human conscience, understood as the inner sanctuary where men and women discover themselves drawn by the voice of God, is the very ground upon which just and stable foundations for every society must be laid. To form consciences that are free and endowed with a holy restlessness is a necessary condition for the Christian faith to appear as a fully human proposal. Such a faith is capable of transforming the lives of individuals and of society, of inspiring prophetic change in the face of the tragedies and forms of poverty of our time, and of encouraging a continual search for God that is never satisfied.

It is indeed within the conscience that moral discernment is formed, by which we freely seek what is true and upright. When the conscience takes care to be enlightened and rightly formed, it becomes the source of a coherent way of acting, directed toward the good, justice and peace."

“Africa, indeed, must be freed from the scourge of corruption”

In this regard, at the end of his speech, addressing the teachers, Leo XIV also recalled:

"Africa and the world stand in need of people who are committed to living according to the Gospel and to placing their talents at the service of the common good. Do not betray this noble ideal! As well as being intellectual guides, be role models whose scientific rigor and personal integrity form the consciences of your students. Africa, indeed, must be freed from the scourge of corruption. For young people, this awareness must take root from their years of formation, thanks to the moral rigor, selflessness and coherence of life shown by their educators and teachers. Day by day, lay the indispensable foundations for the building of a consistent moral and intellectual identity. By bearing witness to the truth — especially in the face of the illusions of ideology and passing fashions — you will foster an environment in which academic excellence is naturally united with human uprightness."

These are words that we could also apply to Europe, where we are often losing the ability to distinguish between good and evil as a result of moral relativism.

“I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country”

Furthermore, in his speech the Pope also recalled something that many forget about migration movements. He expressed it with these words addressed to the young Cameroonians:

"Dear sons and daughters of Cameroon, dear students, 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. This is the raison d’être of your university, founded thirty-five years ago to form pastors of souls and lay people committed to society: these are the witnesses of wisdom and justice, of which the African continent needs."

Eight years ago I spoke about this very thing here, recalling one of the problems being created by the mass migration of young Africans to Europe, a migratory movement that empties the countries of origin of immigrants of human capital, diminishing the possibilities of prosperity for those nations and plunging them into a vicious cycle of poverty and emigration, in order to compensate for the serious demographic problems of European countries whose birth rate is at rock bottom.

I still think that immigration is good and necessary if it's done in an orderly way, not as it's being done now, with plans that seem designed to bring millions of people from Africa with no other purpose than to solve our problems at the expense of plunging their countries of origin into misery. It's a curious form of "progressivism" that consists of preventing those African countries from progressing, since the young people who could make them prosperous leave.

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Photo: Vatican Media. Pope Leo XIV during his visit to the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yuandé, Cameroon.