Last update: March 19, 2009 - 7:43 PM
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON - All religions must reject violence, Pope Benedict told Muslim leaders Thursday before celebrating an open-air mass and offering a message of hope to Africa's expanding Catholic flock.
In Cameroon's capital of Yaounde, a clapping, swaying crowd of 40,000 welcomed Benedict to a sports stadium -- his first occasion as pope to be among a large crowd of faithful on the continent that is witnessing the church's biggest growth.
In his homily, Benedict stressed traditional values and expressed compassion for African children being kidnapped and forced to fight by rebel groups across Africa.
"God loves you; he has not forgotten you," he said in a message to those children.
Earlier, the pope met with 22 representatives of Cameroon's sizable Muslim minority and said that religion is the basis of human civilization.
"Genuine religion ... stands at the base of any authentically human culture," he said. "It rejects all forms of violence and totalitarianism: not only on principles of faith but also of right reason."
Christians and Muslims largely coexist without problems in Cameroon, unlike in neighboring Nigeria. "May the enthusiastic cooperation of Muslims, Catholics and other Christians in Cameroon be a beacon to other African nations of the enormous potential of an inter-religious commitment to peace, justice and the common good," Benedict said.
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