Pope Leo XIV nears the halfway point in his four-nation tour of Africa on Friday with a day focused on encouraging Cameroon’s young people, first with a big Mass and then a visit to the country's Catholic university.

Leo travels on Friday to Douala, Cameroon’s main port city, to celebrate Mass and visit a hospital. The Vatican predicts some 600,000 people would turn out for the liturgy, the biggest crowd Leo is expected to draw on his 11-day odyssey, the first to Africa by history's first American pope.

Later on Friday, back in the capital, Youande, Leo meets students, professors, and administrators at the Catholic University of Central Africa. Popes have often used such encounters, especially in the developing world, to rally young people to persevere in the face of poverty and other economic challenges.

Catholics represent about 29% of Cameroon's 29 million people. It is an overwhelmingly young country, where the median age is 18.

Messages to young people

Leo has already offered words of encouragement to Cameroon’s youth.

“Of course, when unemployment and social exclusion persist, frustration can lead to violence," Leo warned in his opening address.

"Investing in the education, training, and entrepreneurship of young people is, therefore, a strategic choice for peace. It is the only way to curb the outflow of wonderful talent to other parts of the world.”

According to World Bank data, the unemployment rate in Cameroon stands at 3.5%, but 57% of the labor force aged 18 to 35 works in informal employment.

The dire economic outlook in Cameroon has led to significant brain drain and has strained an already understaffed health sector, as many doctors and nurses are leaving the country for more lucrative jobs in Europe and North America.

In 2023, about a third of trained doctors who graduate from medical school in Cameroon leave the country, according to the Ministry of Higher Education.