Pope hopes to bring a message of joy to long-suffering Angolans on the third leg of his Africa tour

LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Saturday, hoping to bring a message of joy and encouragement to its long-suffering people, as he opened the third leg of his four-nation trip through Africa.

Leo’s plane touched down at Luanda’s international airport after the flight from Yaounde, Cameroon, where he celebrated a morning Mass before an estimated 200,000 people.

En route, he had further comments about his ongoing back-and-forth with U.S. President Donald Trump over the Iran war, which began on Feb. 28 with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes followed by Tehran's retaliation. Leo said that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate the president, but that he would continue preaching the Gospel message of peace.

In Cameroon, Leo sought to encourage young people to have hope and demanded that elites stop exploiting the land and its people for profit. It’s a message he was expected to echo in Angola, another mineral-rich former European colony where many of the people live in poverty.

In his homily Saturday, delivered in French, Leo said that the respect for human dignity was a cornerstone of every society.

“For this reason, every community has the obligation to create and sustain structures of solidarity and mutual aid in which, when faced with crises — be they social, political, medical or economic — everyone can give and receive assistance according to their own capacity and needs,” he said.

In Angola, Leo will meet with President Joao Lourenco and deliver his first speech before Angolan government authorities.

Angola, a southern African country of around 38 million, gained independence from Portugal in 1975. But it still bears the scars of a devastating civil war that began straight after independence, and raged on and off for 27 years before finally ending in 2002. More than 500,000 people are believed to have been killed.

For years, the civil war was a Cold War proxy conflict, with the United States and apartheid South Africa backing one side and the Soviet Union and Cuba backing the other.

“I would like to hear a message of peace, a message of reconciliation," Luanda resident Sergio Jose said. "I would also like to hear good political messages, and I would also like to hear that the pope would also talk about the upcoming elections in Angola.”

Angola today is the fourth-largest oil producer in Africa and among the world’s top 20 producers, according to the International Energy Agency. It’s also the world’s No. 3 diamond producer and has significant deposits of gold and highly sought after critical minerals.

But despite its varied natural resources, the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population lived on less than $2.15 a day.

In Cameroon, Leo had railed against the “chains of corruption” that were hindering development, as well as the “handful of tyrants” who were ravaging Earth with war and exploitation. He's expected to raise similar points in Angola.

Late former President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who led Angola for 38 years from 1979 to 2017, was accused of diverting billions of dollars of public money to his family, largely from the country’s oil revenue, as millions struggled in poverty.

After Lourenco took over as president, his administration estimated that at least $24 billion was stolen or misappropriated by dos Santos. Lourenco's administration has vowed to crack down on corruption and has worked to recover funds allegedly stolen during the dos Santos era.

But critics note that Angola still has deep problems with corruption and have questioned if Lourenco’s actions were more aimed at political rivals so as to consolidate his power.

Angola, on the southwest coast of Africa, was considered to be the epicenter of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as a Portuguese colony. More than 5 million of the roughly 12.5 million enslaved Africans were sent across the ocean on ships departing from Angola, more than any other country, though not all of them were Angolans.

The highlight of Leo’s visit to Angola is expected to be his visit Sunday to Muxima, south of Luanda. It's a popular Catholic shrine in a country where around 58% of the population is Catholic.

The Church of Our Lady of Muxima was built by Portuguese colonizers at the end of the 16th century as part of a fortress complex and became a hub in the slave trade. It remains a reminder of the inextricable link hundreds of years ago between Roman Catholicism and the exploitation of the African continent.

Leo, history's first U.S.-born pope, has Black and white ancestors who included both enslaved people and slave owners, according to genealogical research. He's going to Muxima to pray the Rosary, in recognition of the site becoming a popular pilgrimage destination, after believers reported an appearance by the Virgin Mary around 1833.

Gerald Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa.

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.

The plane carrying Pope Leo XIV arrives in Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Pope Leo XIV waves after arriving in Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

People traveling on a motorcycles ride past a mural featuring Pope Leo XIV, in Luanda, South Africa, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The plane carrying Pope Leo XIV arrives in Luanda, Angola, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Pope Leo XIV arrives in procession to celebrate Mass at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Cameroon's President Paul Biya, left, and his wife Chantal wait for the start of a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

People wait for Pope Leo XIV at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate Mass at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV arrives to celebrate Mass at Yaounde Ville Airport, Cameroon, Saturday, April 18, 2026 on the sixth day of his 11-day pastoral visit to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday directed his administration to speed up reviews of certain psychedelic drugs, including ibogaine, which recently has been embraced by combat veterans and conservative lawmakers despite having serious safety risks.

Ibogaine and other psychedelics remain banned under the federal government's most restrictive category for illegal, high-risk drugs. But the administration is taking steps to ease restrictions and spur research on using the drugs for medical purposes, including conditions like severe depression.

“Today’s order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life,” Trump said as he signed an executive order on the drugs. The Republican president said his directive will help “dramatically accelerate” access to potential treatments. "If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it's going to have a tremendous impact,” he said.

Veteran organizations and psychedelic advocates have long contended that the ibogaine, which is made from a shrub native to West Africa, has great promise for hard-to-treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and opioid addiction.

Trump’s announcement follows pledges by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other administration officials to ease access to psychedelics for medical use, an issue that has won rare bipartisan support.

Joining Trump in the Oval Office were his top health officials, conservative podcaster Joe Rogan and Marcus Luttrell, the former Navy SEAL whose memoir about a deadly mission in Afghanistan was the basis of the film “Lone Survivor.” Rogan said he texted Trump information on ibogaine and the president responded: “Sounds great. Do you want FDA approval? Let's do it.”

“You’re going to save a lot of lives through it,” Luttrell told Trump during the ceremony. “It absolutely changed my life for the better.”

The Food and Drug Administration next week will issue national priority vouchers for three psychedelics, which the agency's commissioner, Marty Makary, said will allow certain drugs to be approved quickly “if they are in line with our national priorities.” The vouchers can cut review times from several months to a period of weeks. It is the first time the FDA has offered that fast-tracking to any psychedelics.

The FDA is also taking steps to clear the way for the first-ever human trials of ibogaine in the U.S.

Trump's action surprised many longtime advocates and researchers in the psychedelic field, given that ibogaine is known to sometimes trigger potentially fatal heart problems. The National Institutes of Health briefly funded research on the drug in the 1990s, but discontinued the work due to ibogaine's "cardiovascular toxicity.”

“It’s been incredibly difficult to study ibogaine in the U.S. because of its known cardiotoxicity,” said Frederick Barrett, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “If the executive order can pave the way for doing objective, scientific research with this compound, it would help us understand whether it is truly a better psychedelic therapy than others.”

No psychedelic has been approved in the United States, but a number of them are being studied in large trials for various mental health conditions, including psilocybin, MDMA and LSD. All those drugs remain illegal, classified as Schedule I substances alongside drugs such as heroin. Two states — Oregon and Colorado — have legalized psychedelic therapy with psilocybin.

Ibogaine was first used by members of the Bwiti religion in African nations like Gabon during their religious ceremonies.

In recent years, U.S. veterans have reported benefiting from the drug after traveling to clinics in Mexico that administer it.

Backing from veterans groups and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry led to a law last year providing $50 million for ibogaine research in that state. Perry, who co-founded a group called Americans for Ibogaine, recently appeared on Rogan’s podcast, making the case for reducing federal limits on the drug. It was his second time talking about ibogaine on the popular podcast in the past two years.

The drug is known to cause irregular heart rhythms and has been linked to more than 30 deaths in the medical literature, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit that conducted some early studies in patients outside the U.S.

The group's co-executive director, Ismail Lourido Ali, said Trump's order might encourage other states to follow the Texas model.

“The stigma around Schedule I drugs is significant,” Ali said. “It feels like this would give pretty substantial cover for Republican governors and legislatures to step into the ring in terms of funding research programs at their universities.”

Owners of ibogaine clinics said the impact of the order will not be immediate.

“There will be no insurance coverage, it will still be considered unapproved and non-covered care,” said Tom Feegel of Beond Ibogaine, which operates a clinic in Cancun, Mexico. “But what it does mean is that ibogaine shifts from being fringe and underground to being federally acknowledged.”

Feegel says his clinic treated 2,000 people with ibogaine last year for between $15,000 and $20,000 per person. The company also gave free treatment to about 100 veterans.

Clinics that use the drug typically monitor patients’ heart readings and have emergency medical equipment on hand.

One of the only recent studies conducted by U.S. researchers found that veterans treated with ibogaine showed improvements in symptoms of traumatic brain injury, including PTSD, depression and anxiety. The Stanford University study was small — enrolling 30 veterans who received the drug in Mexico. It did not include a placebo group for comparison, an essential feature of rigorous medical research. Patients in the study received a combination of ibogaine mixed with magnesium intended to reduce heart risks.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Joe Rogan laughs as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)