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Pope Leo XIV condemned exploitation and corruption by the rich and powerful on Monday during a visit to Angola’s diamond-rich northeast, returning to a theme of his 11-day tour of Africa.
The American pope, on the eighth day of his trip to four African nations, visited Saurimo, some 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of the capital, Luanda.
Under tropical heat and heavy security, Leo drove through the city of around 200,000 people along a route lined by hundreds of singing and cheering locals dressed in colourful outfits and waving white scarves.
Saurimo is the capital of the historically marginalised Lunda Sul province and close to Angola’s largest diamond mine, Catoca, which extracts around 75 per cent of the country’s diamonds.
