Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for more than 120,000 people in Cameroon's largest city on April 17, urging "beloved children of the African continent" to share God's love by feeding the hungry and offering the spiritual nourishment of "the bread of life."

Because of the large turnout, the Mass was held in a parking area next to Douala's Japoma Stadium under 90-degree heat. Catholics in the crowd told OSV News that they had spent the night outside to claim their spots for the Mass.

Remerit Ngwe, 28, waited 16 hours outside overnight for the papal Mass. "Since yesterday 7 p.m. we slept here on the stone waiting for the pope," she told OSV News. "We are so happy we finally saw the pope, Pope Leo, a once in a lifetime experience. Long live the pope!"

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Speaking in both French and English during his homily, Pope Leo opened with a striking question to the Cameroonian congregation, "where is God in the face of people's hunger?"

He turned to the Gospel of John and its account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes to respond.

"A serious problem was solved by blessing the little food that was present and sharing it with all who were hungry," Pope Leo said in French.

"There is bread for everyone if it is given to everyone. There is bread for everyone if it is taken, not with a hand that snatches away, but with a hand that gives," he underlined.

According to the World Food Programme, 2.9 million people in Cameroon face food insecurity and need humanitarian assistance, with about 23% of the population living below the poverty line.

The pope said the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes reveals a God who comes "to serve with love, not to dominate."

"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. Each act of solidarity and forgiveness, every good effort, becomes a morsel of bread for humanity in need of care," he said.

"Yet this alone is not enough: the food that sustains the body must be accompanied, with equal charity, by nourishment for the soul -- a nourishment that sustains our conscience and steadies us in dark hours of fear and amid the shadows of suffering," he emphasized.

Pope Leo said that this spiritual nourishment is "Christ himself, who always gives his Church abundant sustenance and strengthens us on our journey by giving us his Eucharistic Body."

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"Sisters and brothers, the Eucharist that we are celebrating is the source of renewed faith, because Jesus becomes present among us."

"This very altar, around which we gather for the Eucharist, becomes a proclamation of hope amid the trials of history and the injustices we see around us," he added.

The pope's message resonated with Cameroonians in the crowd. Ngwe said, "Being a Catholic Christian allows you to partake in the Eucharist, which is the highest celebration."

She said she loves the "oneness" of the Catholic Church, "When I see Cameroon, when I see Rome, when I see USA, we practice the same … Christianity. That is the pride of being a Catholic Christian."

Cameroon is home to more than 8 million Catholics, nearly 30% of the population, and the Church often serves as a bridge across linguistic and political divides.

In an interview with OSV News, Father Gabriel Abega Owona of the Diocese of Sangmélima described the Church's mission in the country.

As a priest, he said, "our daily challenge is to nurture faith within a context of material poverty, yet of immense spiritual richness."

"Being a priest here means being a father, a social worker, and a mediator. My experience is defined by faces: young people seeking work and dignity, families praying for peace, and the explosive joy of the Sunday liturgy -- which lasts for hours and serves as a true foretaste of paradise."

"In Cameroon, the Church is not an institution standing 'alongside' society, but rather its beating heart -- particularly in those areas where the State struggles to reach. The Church manages nearly 1,000 primary schools and hundreds of health care facilities. Indeed, in many villages, the only doctor or teacher available is one provided by the Catholic mission," Abega Owona explained.

He added that the Catholic Church in Cameroon "serves as a bridge between the Francophone and Anglophone cultures" and strives "to translate the Gospel into concrete actions for human development."

Switching to English for part of his homily, the pope urged Cameroon's Catholics to "be the first faces and hands that bring the bread of life to your neighbors, providing them 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."

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The pope flew 160 miles from Yaoundé to Douala on Friday morning for the Mass, at which he greeted the enthusiastic crowd from the popemobile.

After the Mass, Pope Leo will make a private visit to the Catholic Hospital of St. Paul in Douala before returning by plane to Cameroon's capital in the afternoon, where he will meet with university students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa in Yaoundé.