For Catholics, a papal visit to their country is typically a moment of joy and piety. But for the more than eight million Catholics of Cameroon, the arrival of Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday will also be a reminder of some of the biggest disparities within the church.
One in five Catholics lives in Africa, where the religion is growing faster than on any other continent, and in Cameroon, close to 30 percent of the population identifies as Catholic, according to Vatican figures. Yet Africans are still a minority in the senior ranks of Vatican leadership in Rome. Pope Francis, Leo’s immediate predecessor, tried to diversify the College of Cardinals, the group of 121 senior church leaders who advise and elect popes, but Cameroon currently has no cardinals, and Africa has just 14 in the college.
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