Benedict made the appeal as he arrived to an exuberant welcome in the Angolan capital of Luanda on the second leg of his African tour. Tens of thousands of Angolans lined his motorcade route to welcome him, honking cars and slowing traffic to a crawl.

Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos greeted the 81-year-old Benedict as he descended from his chartered plane onto a red carpet in sweltering heat that reddened his face.

In his remarks at the airport, Benedict referred to his own childhood growing up in Nazi Germany, saying he had known war and national divisions 'as a result of inhuman and destructive ideologies, which, under the false appearance of dreams and illusions, caused the yoke of oppression to weigh down upon the people.'

'You can therefore understand how keenly aware I am of dialogue as a way of overcoming every form of conflict and tension and making every nation, including your own, into a house of peace and fraternity,' he said.

Angola was lacerated by a civil war that started with its 1975 independence and ended in 2002.

Its history as a former Portuguese colony has given the country Christian roots and today about 8.6 million people, or more than 60 per cent of the population, are Catholic.

Many of the faithful were out in force Friday to welcome the pope.

The throngs blocked roads leading away from Luanda's airport; many people wore white T-shirts with 'Welcome to our land' written in Portuguese.

'Christianity is not only a religion but a composite part of the Angolan identity,' said Nelson Pestana, a political scientist who lectures at the Catholic University of Angola. -- AP