( CNN ) -- Tens of thousands of people packed a soccer stadium in Cameroon Thursday , including President Paul Biya and his wife , for the first large-scale mass of Pope Benedict XVI 's first visit to Africa . Tens of thousands of people gathered at a football stadium in Cameroon to see the pope . Africa is the last continent that Benedict had left to visit , and one he could not avoid , said David Gibson , a biographer of the pope . `` He knows he has to do this . He knows Africa is the future of the ( Roman Catholic ) Church , as it is for all of Christianity , '' said Gibson . Christianity , like Islam , is on the rise in Africa and Latin America , even as the northern hemisphere tends to become more secular . '' One in five of the world 's Christians lives in Africa -- up from less than one in fifty in 1900 , said Brian Grim , an editor of the World Religion Database . So Benedict is making the visit although travel `` is not his cup of tea , '' Gibson said . `` John Paul II loved the travel and loved the different cultures . Benedict is a European through and through . '' Watch the pope at the soccer stadium » . But Benedict understands that travel has become an essential part of a pope 's duties , said Gibson , the author of `` The Rule of Benedict : Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World . '' Benedict drew cheers at the mass at the 40,000-seat Amadou Ahidjo Stadium when he told worshippers that God had not forgotten orphans , poor and abused children , and those `` forced to join paramilitary forces , '' Cameroon TV reported . He did not mention condoms , a subject which sparked controversy when he reiterated the Vatican 's opposition to artificial birth control Monday while flying to Cameroon . Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit harder by AIDS and HIV than any other region of the world , according to the United Nations and World Health Organization . There has been fierce debate between those who advocate the use of condoms to help stop the spread of the epidemic and those who oppose it . The pope 's mention of birth control may have been an effort to draw attention to the trip , which `` is not getting much of a bounce in the Western media , '' Gibson speculated . `` They are savvy enough to know that if the pope mentions condoms , it is going to be a headline , '' he said of the pontiff 's advisers . The issue did not come up by chance , he pointed out . `` These were pre-selected questions for which they had prepared answers , '' he said . The pope also Thursday met local Muslim leaders in Cameroon , a west African country which is just over one-quarter Roman Catholic and just under one-quarter Muslim . Both religions are expanding rapidly in Africa , said Grim , a senior research fellow in religion and world affairs at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life . Less than one in ten people in sub-Saharan Africa was Christian in 1900 . Today nearly six in ten are , he said . The region was about 14 percent Muslim at the beginning of the 20th century , he said , and about 30 percent Muslim now . Benedict outraged Muslim leaders around the world in 2006 by quoting the 15th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus when he said , `` Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new , and there you will find things only evil and inhuman , such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached . '' He repeatedly apologized for the citation , which he said did not reflect his own views . `` It was a painful lesson but clearly the pope learned something from that , '' Gibson said . The pope 's meeting Muslim leaders in person can help relations between the Church and Islam , the analyst added . Face-to-face encounters make `` the pope a human figure . That 's what these trips are really about -- to see that the pope is not the boogeyman , he is someone who is kind and wise and wants to discuss issues . `` It 's so easy to see caricatures , so for the pope simply to show up can be an enormously positive development , '' Gibson said . Gibson said this week 's visit may be Benedict 's only trip to Africa . `` Knowing that the pope is older , he can not travel as much -- he does not like to travel -- makes these trips more poignant . He may never come back to Africa again . ''
Tens of thousands of people pack soccer stadium in Cameroon for pope 's mass . Pope tells followers that God has not forgotten orphans , poor and abused . He did not mention condoms after sparking controversy earlier in the week .