President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for a renewal of the human spirit rooted in solidarity, justice and compassion during a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, and invited the Holy Father to visit South Africa.
Joining the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference in inviting the Holy Father to visit South Africa, which has only ever received one brief papal visit — St John Paul II in 1995 — the president said: “We would be greatly honoured to host you in our beautiful country.”
Welcomed in the Apostolic Palace, the South African president conveyed greetings from “the government and people of South Africa” and expressed gratitude for the pope’s leadership of the universal Church. “It is a great blessing for us to be here in this Eternal City and in the heart of the Catholic faith,” he said.
The president reflected on the spiritual significance of the Jubilee Year of Hope. “It is a great blessing to walk through the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica during this Jubilee,” he said. “I will carry these blessings and this spirit of hope back to our people in South Africa.”
Easier to fund wars than peace
He used the occasion to speak about the moral and spiritual challenges facing the world. “To many, it seems easier to fund wars than to invest in peace,” he told the Holy Father. “These global challenges cannot be resolved by nations acting alone, but only through solidarity and multilateralism.”
He noted that South Africa’s G20 presidency, under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”, offers a unique opportunity to advance the common good. “This is a moment to forge greater equality, empowering the marginalised, unlocking human potential and ensuring justice for all,” he said.
Ramaphosa paid tribute to the late Pope Francis, describing his passing as “a great loss to the world”. The former pontiff, he said, “was able to draw the world together to seek answers to the most pressing questions of our time”.
Turning to Pope Leo, Ramaphosa expressed hope and confidence in the new pontificate: “Your election as successor to St Peter has provided hope and encouragement.”
South Africa, he continued, is home to nearly four million Catholics who “represent the full diversity of our multicultural nation”. The Church, he said, has long played a vital role in the country’s journey towards democracy, human rights and social justice.
Ubuntu and Catholic Social Teaching
Ramaphosa rooted his address in the philosophy of Ubuntu — “our shared humanity” — drawing parallels with the Church’s social doctrine on the dignity of the human person and the pursuit of the common good.
“The human impulse is not towards isolation, but towards community,” he said. “Through this solidarity, the strong discover their true strength: not in dominion, but in lifting up the weak.”
Echoing the Gospel vision of service and fraternity, he urged wealthy nations to see their duty to the poor “not as an act of charity, but as the building of a just world”.
Citing ongoing wars in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine and Palestine, he called for moral consistency in the pursuit of peace: “Our conscience must be consistent. We must strive for peace and justice wherever human lives are held captive by war.”
Call for economic justice
Ramaphosa spoke passionately about the burden of debt on African nations, praising the Church’s Jubilee Commission Report and its call for reform of the global financial system. “Many African countries spend more on servicing debt than on education or healthcare,” he noted. “Innovative financial instruments and reforms are essential if we are to build a fairer, more peaceful and prosperous world.”
He told the pope that South Africa’s G20 agenda reflects Catholic teaching on global equity: “We hope to move towards a world order in which none believes they are greater or better than the other.”
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