Pope urges Africa's youth to resist dual temptations of migration and corruption in Cameroon

DOUALA, Cameroon (AP) — Pope Leo XIV urged Cameroon’s young people on Friday to resist the temptation to migrate and instead work for the common good at home, as he called for morally upright citizens to combat corruption plaguing many African countries.

Leo highlighted two of the big problems facing the continent during a Mass and a meeting with students and faculty at the Catholic University of Central Africa: the corruption that keeps countries in poverty and the brain drain of their brightest children who leave rather than fight the corruption at home.

They’re themes Leo has highlighted during his visit to Cameroon, a mineral-rich Central African nation which has been ruled since 1982 by 93-year-old President Paul Biya, who last year secured an eighth consecutive term with a disputed election.

Friday marked the half-way point in Leo’s 11-day tour of four African nations. He leaves Saturday for Angola, another country blessed with oil and other natural resources, but where a third of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day.

“Africa, indeed, must be freed from the scourge of corruption,” Leo told the university students and their teachers in the capital Yaounde.

“The greatness of a nation cannot be measured solely by the abundance of its natural resources, nor even by the material wealth of its institutions,” he said. “No society, in fact, can flourish unless it is grounded in upright consciences, formed in the truth.”

Leo began the day celebrating Mass in the port city of Douala, Cameroon’s financial and economic hub on its western coast. The Vatican had expected as many as 600,000 would attend, but only around 120,000 made it.

Cameroonian organizers suggested that security limitations and closed roads may have prevented many people from getting to the field, which was located well outside of town next to the Japoma sports stadium.

Some of those who did make it had spent the night on the ground, battling mosquitoes. But they said they were willing to make the sacrifice for the pope.

“I wanted to offer this effort to the pope, to show him that what he is doing and what he wants to accomplish should truly come to life,” said Alex Nzumo, who arrived at the Mass on crutches.

The field was nevertheless buzzing with people singing, swaying and dancing as an announcer shouted “Habemus Papam!” (We have a pope!). The Latin phrase is used to announce the election of a new pope but in this case joyfully announced Leo’s arrival at the field, where young people ran to keep up with his popemobile as he looped through the crowds.

In his homily, delivered in French and English, Leo urged young people to look beyond the poverty and disillusionment many experience and instead look to the future with hope.

“Do not give in to distrust and discouragement,” he said. “Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality and work.”

With a population of 29 million, Cameroon is an overwhelmingly young country, where the median age is 18. Catholics represent about 29% of the population, and the country is a major source of growth and priestly vocations for the church.

Leo had already offered words of encouragement to Cameroon’s youth, including in his opening speech to Biya, in which he demanded the “chains of corruption” in Cameroon be broken. But with Biya entrenched in power, Cameroon perhaps represents the most dramatic example of the tension between Africa’s youth and the continent’s many aging leaders.

Despite being an oil-producing country experiencing modest economic growth, young people say the benefits have not trickled down beyond the elites.

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.

In his remarks at the university, Leo urged the students to resist the temptation to leave and to instead use their educations to improve life for themselves and their fellow citizens at home. Africa, he said, needs them.

“In the face of the understandable tendency to migrate — which may lead one to believe that elsewhere a better future may be more easily found — I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens,” he said.

Among the most pressing issues they must address, he warned, is the advance of artificial intelligence and how it is altering the very relationship of people with the truth. As digital environments replace human encounters, people resort to self-referential bubbles where polarization, conflict and fear can spread.

“What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth," he warned.

Associated Press writer Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

A woman with her child attends Pope Leo XIV's meeting with University students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yaounde Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives in procession to celebrate Mass at the Japoma Stadium, in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV talks with a student during a meeting at the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yaounde Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV delivers his message during a meeting with University students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa, in Yaounde Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Faithful wait for Pope Leo XIV in the Japoma Stadium before the start of a Mass, in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in the Japoma Stadium, in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass in the Japoma Stadium, in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV delivers the homily during Mass at the Japoma Stadium, in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People wait for Pope Leo XIV in Douala, Cameroon, Friday, April 17, 2026 on the fifth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A woman prays during a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV at Bamenda Airport, Cameroon, Thursday, April 16, 2026, on the fourth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV celebrates a Mass at Bamenda Airport, Cameroon, Thursday, April 16, 2026, on the fourth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate Mass at Bamenda Airport, Cameroon, Thursday, April 16, 2026, on the fourth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

NEW YORK (AP) — Jalen Brunson sparked one of the NBA's greatest postseason comebacks, a rally from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter, and finished with 38 points as New York beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-104 in overtime on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

After a record-setting run through the first two rounds, the Knicks were going nowhere for 40 minutes against the Cavs, trailing 93-71 with 7:52 to play. But Brunson relentlessly attacked James Harden to spark an 18-1 run that made it a ballgame, and he tied it at 101-all on a basket with 19 seconds remaining in regulation.

Before that, Brunson said the message for the Knicks was just to finish strong so they would have momentum for Game 2, even if they lost the opener.

“Just keep fighting,” he said. “Keep chipping away. We’re not going to get it back in one possession.”

The Knicks then opened overtime with a 9-0 run as a delirious crowd in Madison Square Garden danced and screamed in the aisles. The Knicks moved within three wins of their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999.

Mikal Bridges added 18 points and three Knicks scored 13, including OG Anunoby, who came on late after struggling most of the way in his return after missing two games with a strained right hamstring.

Donovan Mitchell scored 29 points for the Cavaliers, who seemed well on their way to a third straight road win before their late collapse. The Knicks outscored them 44-11 after their 93-71 lead.

“We played great basketball tonight for three quarters. Unfortunately, the fourth quarter — they dominated us in the fourth quarter,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said.

The Knicks won their eighth straight game and will host Game 2 on Thursday.

The Knicks had outscored Atlanta and Philadelphia by a combined 194 points, the largest margin ever through a team’s first 10 postseason games. But after not playing since May 10, when they finished their second-round sweep of the 76ers, the Knicks misfired most of the night, looking like the rust hurt more than the rest helped.

They were 4 for 23 on 3-pointers through three quarters and then had a horrible start to the fourth. But a year after coughing up a 14-point lead in the final minutes of regulation and losing to Indiana in OT in Game 1 of the conference finals on their home court, the Knicks found their offense just in time.

“But it was our defense that has always been special in these playoffs and that has carried us in this playoffs, that showed up in the fourth quarter and in overtime,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “It allowed us to be sitting here with a win against a really great team.”

The only bigger fourth-quarter playoff comeback in the last 30 years was when the Clippers rallied from 24 down to beat Memphis in Game 1 in 2012.

“That can’t happen. But it did," Mitchell said. "We play in two days. We can’t sit here and let it kill our momentum, kill what we’ve been doing. It’s not a good loss.”

The Knicks came from 20 points behind three times last year in the postseason. Those were their largest comebacks on record since 1969-70, when they won their first of two NBA titles.

Evan Mobley had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavs. Harden also scored 15 points, but was just 1 for 8 on 3-pointers and had more turnovers (six) than field goals (five).

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New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson, bottom, drives past Cleveland Cavaliers' James Harden during the second half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Knicks' Og Anunoby, left, fouls Cleveland Cavaliers' Jarrett Allen (31) as he drives to the basket during the first half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns (32) shoots over Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden, left, during the second half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Cleveland Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen, top right, brings his arm down on New York Knicks guard Josh Hart, left, during the second half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York Knicks' Jalen Brunson (11) moves around the Cleveland Cavaliers defense during the first half of Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series Tuesday, May 19, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)