Pope Leo warns against syncretism for second time during Africa visit

KILAMBA, Angola (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Leo XIV warned the faithful in Angola during a homily on Sunday against religious syncretism, or mixing Catholicism with non-Catholic beliefs.

In a homily during an April 19 Sunday Mass, Pope Leo, while reflecting on how the disciples on the road had recognized Our Lord in the breaking of the bread, warned the faithful against syncretism, which he stressed risks “confusing and mixing magical and superstitious elements” with what the Church teaches and thus hindering their spiritual journey. This is the second time within a week that the pontiff has denounced syncretism.

“We experience the Lord’s companionship above all in our relationship with Him, in prayer, in listening to his word that sets our hearts ablaze like it did to the hearts of the two disciples,” Leo said. “This takes place especially in the celebration of the Eucharist. It is here that we encounter God.”

The pontiff then urged the Angolan congregation to be vigilant in avoiding superstitious elements of their culture that are incompatible with Catholic teaching.

“For this reason, we must always be vigilant regarding those forms of traditional religiosity that certainly belong to the roots of your culture, but at the same time risk confusing and mixing magical and superstitious elements that do not aid your spiritual journey,” Leo said.

“Remain faithful to what the Church teaches, trust your pastors, and keep your gaze fixed on Jesus, who reveals himself in the word and in the Eucharist,” he added. “In both, we experience that the risen Lord walks beside us and, united to him, we too overcome the ‘deaths’ that besiege us and live as those who have ‘risen.'”

The Holy Father further underscored the need for the Angolan faithful to give of themselves just as Christ gave of Himself in the breaking of the bread for the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

“Angola needs bishops, priests, missionaries, men and women religious, and lay people who carry in their hearts the desire to ‘break’ their own lives and give them to others, to commit themselves to mutual love and forgiveness, to build spaces of fraternity and peace, and to perform acts of compassion and solidarity towards those most in need,” he said.

Pope Leo delivered a similar message just three days earlier during a homily in Cameroon, where he urged Catholics to remain faithful to the Church without compromising with external beliefs or internal distortions, warning especially against the risks associated with religious syncretism and its possible ideological or economic exploitation.

READ: Pope Leo warns against syncretism weeks after 1995 Pachamama ritual revelations

“Obey God, not human beings. To obey him, because he alone is God. This calls us to foster inculturation of the Gospel. It also calls us to be vigilant, even regarding our own religious practices, so as not to fall into the trap of mixing the Catholic faith with other beliefs and traditions of an esoteric or Gnostic nature, which in reality often serve political and economic ends,” the pontiff said.

Leo’s recent warnings against religious syncretism are particularly interesting since, in recent months, the Holy See has appointed several bishops known for promoting precisely this kind of blending of religions. LifeSiteNews has reported on various such cases, including Agnelo Pinheiro, the new bishop of Sindhudurg (India), and Anton Sipuka, the new bishop of Cape Town (South Africa), who has openly considered introducing a pagan mediumistic rite into the Catholic Missal.

The pontiff’s remarks also come about a month after LifeSiteNews published an exclusive report revealing that Robert Prevost himself, as a young priest, had taken part in a ritual honoring the Andean goddess Pachamama in Brazil in 1995. As is widely known, a similar ceremony was later brought inside the Vatican by Pope Francis on October 4, 2019.

UNEARTHED: 1995 photo shows Pope Leo XIV participating in Pachamama ritual