Pope Leo XIV has told Cameroon's government to root out corruption during a forthright address on the second leg of his African tour.
"In order for peace and justice to prevail, the chains of corruption - which disfigure authority and strip it of its credibility - must be broken," he told those gathered at the presidential palace in the capital, Yaoundé, including President Paul Biya.
The 93-year-old president won an eighth term last year in a disputed poll and his administration faces criticism over allegations of corruption, bad governance and a failure to tackle security.
The Pope is now in Cameroon's English-speaking regions, where a separatist insurgency has raged for nearly a decade.
He is expected to pray for peace at a Mass in the city of Bamenda, the centre of the violence which has left at least 6,000 people dead and many more forced from their homes.
