MALABO — Pope Leo XIV concluded his inaugural Africa pilgrimage on Wednesday with a visit to Equatorial Guinea, where he delivered a pointed critique of global inequality, declaring that the world had become “indifferent to the suffering of the poor.”
Speaking to an audience that included President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo — one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders — Pope Leo said the “whirlwind of fraternité” he had witnessed across three African nations stood in stark contrast to the “structures of inequality” that persist globally.
“We have built economies that enrich the few while the many are left behind,” he told the crowd, many of whom had traveled from remote provinces to attend the open-air Mass. “This is not acceptable. This is not what God intends.”
The speech drew sustained applause and will likely be remembered as one of the most politically charged papal addresses in recent memory — particularly given its setting inside a nation often criticized for human rights abuses and authoritarian governance.
For Pope Leo, the visit carries special significance. His election in early April marked the first time a pontiff has come from the Global South — and specifically from the continent with the world’s youngest and fastest-growing population.
His three-country tour — also encompassing Cameroon and Angola — has been interpreted by many African Catholics as a powerful statement that the Church’s future lies in the Global South, not Europe.
“That so many young people came to see him, that the churches were full, that people were moved to tears — it tells you everything about where the heartbeat of Catholicism now beats strongest,” said Father Emmanuel Adeyemi, a Nigerian theologian.
For Equatorial Guinea, hosting a papal visit is both a public relations opportunity and a moment of genuine celebration for its predominantly Catholic population. Yet critics noted the irony of a pontiff who preaches equality sharing a stage with a president whose family has accumulated enormous personal wealth in one of Africa’s smallest nations.
“The Pope spoke truth to power,” said one Western diplomat, speaking informally. “Whether that power listened is another matter.”