On the second day of his visit to Equatorial Guinea, a predominantly Catholic country of 1.8 million people in central Africa, Pope Leo XIV issued an unequivocal call to authorities “to serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.”
He issued this request in his homily at Mass on April 22 at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mongomo, the president’s hometown. Situated on the edge of the rainforest, the city boomed following the discovery of offshore oil in the mid-1990s. That discovery transformed the country’s economy almost overnight, with the result that oil now accounts for almost half of the country’s G.D.P. and around 90 percent of its exports, according to the African Development Bank.
Pope Leo made a similar appeal in his first speech to the authorities of this country at the presidential palace in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, on April 21, when he recalled that Pope Francis said, “We have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality.” Pope Leo added, “I echo that call!” He told the country’s leaders: “In a world wounded by arrogance, people hunger and thirst for justice. It is necessary to encourage those who believe in peace to engage in ‘countercurrent’ politics— those which place the common good at their very center.”
Pope Leo took aim at the biggest socioeconomic problem in the country: the fact that, according to the World Bank, more than 50 percent of its small population is living in poverty while an economic elite reaps the benefits of its oil- and gas-rich land, which has been governed by the authoritarian president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, 83, for some 47 years. He took power in a military coup in 1979 and is today the longest-serving ruler in Africa, having governed with an iron fist. His son, who serves as vice president, was condemned by a French court in 2021 for plundering public funds and was subjected to international sanctions. The Associated Press reported that President Trump’s administration provisionally lifted restrictions on him, and as a result, the government of Equatorial Guinea agreed to receive migrants deported from the United States; the first group reportedly arrived at the end of November 2025.
Both the president and his son were in attendance at the Mass in the basilica, the second largest church in Africa (the largest is in the Ivory Coast), when Pope Leo issued his challenging call. The 1,000 faithful inside the basilica, and another 90,000 outside, erupted with joy when Pope Leo arrived, dancing and cheering, but they listened to his homily in silence.
The pope recalled that the motto chosen for his visit is “Christ, Light of Equatorial Guinea, Towards a Future of Hope” and remarked: “Perhaps this is precisely the greatest hunger today. There is hunger for a future imbued with hope that is capable of engendering a new sense of justice and producing fruits of peace and fraternity.”
He told them, “The future of Equatorial Guinea depends upon your choices; it is entrusted to your sense of responsibility and to your shared commitment to safeguarding the life and dignity of every person. It is therefore necessary for all the baptized to feel that they are part of the work of evangelization, and so become apostles of charity and witnesses to a new humanity.”
Pope Leo added, “May the Lord help you to become a society in which everyone, each according to their respective responsibilities, works ever more fully to serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged. May there be greater room for freedom, and may the dignity of the human person always be safeguarded.”
His words referred not only to the socioeconomic situation but also to the lack of freedom and violation of human rights under this authoritarian regime, documented by Human Rights Watch and other organizations. Some activists are reportedly in a prison in Malabo, which Pope Leo visited later in the day. Sources said that people here are very reluctant to speak to the media out of fear of retaliation.
Pope Leo concluded his homily, delivered in Spanish, with a call to action: “Brothers and sisters, there is a need for Christians to take the destiny of Equatorial Guinea into their own hands. For this reason, I would like to encourage you: Do not be afraid to proclaim the Gospel and bear witness to it with your lives! Be builders of a future of hope, peace and reconciliation, carrying on the work begun by the missionaries 170 years ago.”
‘God does not want this’
When the pope speaks on foreign visits, his words often have relevance beyond the particular country. This appeared to be the case when, on April 21, Pope Leo addressed the state authorities and civil society of Equatorial Guinea, as well as the diplomatic corps accredited to this country. He noted that new technologies have “accelerated speculation regarding raw materials” and that this has contributed to “the proliferation of armed conflicts…with no regard for international law or the self-determination of peoples.”
“These same technologies,” Pope Leo said, “often appear to be conceived and utilized primarily for warlike purposes, within contexts that fail to expand opportunities for all. On the contrary, the destiny of humanity risks being tragically compromised without a change of direction in the assumption of political responsibility and without respect for institutions and international agreements.
“God does not want this. His holy name must not be profaned by the will to dominate, by arrogance or by discrimination; above all, it must never be invoked to justify choices and actions of death,” he said.
He encouraged the authorities in Equatorial Guinea and its civil society, “May your country not hesitate to evaluate its own paths of development and the positive opportunities of positioning itself on the international stage in the service of law and justice. Yours is a young country! I am certain, therefore, that within the church you will find help for the formation of free and responsible consciences, enabling you to advance together toward the future.”
Pope Leo came to this former Spanish colony not just to send a strong message to those in authority but also to confirm the Catholics of this land in the full dimensions of the faith. The same was true when St. John Paul II came here in 1982 and was welcomed by the same president, but the Polish pope’s call for social justice seems to have fallen on deaf ears. At the palace, Pope Leo recalled what his Polish predecessor had said 44 years ago and pointedly asked: What has happened since then?
Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa. It was evangelized 170 years ago, first by the Jesuits, but especially by the Claretians and the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception. The church faced persecution between 1968 and 1979; many priests and lay people suffered then. The catechists, especially, were imprisoned and suffered all kinds of humiliation; the cause for the beatification of one of them, José Si Esono, has been opened.
Catholics remained strong under that persecution, however, and today the Catholic Church in Equatorial Guinea has 1,248,000 members and is served by six bishops, 265 priests, three permanent deacons and 169 nuns, according to Vatican statistics. It also has many vocations to the priesthood and runs 110 schools and six orphanages.
The laity, too, actively participate in the church’s life, and Pope Leo gave them great encouragement when he spoke at a meeting, enlivened by song, music and testimonies, with thousands of families and enthusiastic young people in the sports stadium of Bata, the economic capital of the country, as the sun was setting on the last full day of his visit to the country.
During his 11-day visit to Africa, the first American pope has cemented his role not only as the strong spiritual leader of the Catholic Church but also as a fearless advocate for justice and peace. His international stature has been strongly affirmed by President Trump’s attack on him on the first day of his long journey in Africa, according to journalists from many countries traveling with him. Unfazed by that attack, he continued with steely determination to proclaim the urgent need to work for peace and to call on Christians everywhere to be peacemakers, a call that resonated strongly with the citizens of all four countries he visited and indeed in so many other countries across the globe.
Pope Leo concludes his visit to Equatorial Guinea tomorrow morning, April 23, with Mass at Malabo Stadium, and then takes the plane for the seven-hour flight to Rome, during which he will hold a press conference.
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