MALABO — Pope Leo XIV called on Equatorial Guinea to build a society founded on justice, reconciliation and the dignity of every person, in an address delivered at a public mass attended by thousands in the capital Malabo on Wednesday.
The pontiff, who is in the final days of a three-week apostolic journey across Africa, arrived in the small central African nation on Tuesday for a two-day visit that has drawn both large crowds and scrutiny from human rights groups who note that the Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo government has been in power since 1979.
In his remarks, the Pope did not directly address the political situation in Equatorial Guinea, one of Africa’s longest-serving regimes. Instead, he spoke in general terms about the responsibilities of leadership and the importance of caring for the poor and marginalised — themes that observers said were implicitly directed at a government where wealth concentrated at the top while much of the population lives in poverty despite the country’s oil riches.
A Crowded Welcome and Quiet Dissent
The mass, held at a purpose-built venue outside Malabo, was attended by an estimated 50,000 people, according to Vatican estimates — a significant turnout in a country of just 1.5 million. The government organised large numbers of supporters to attend, and the streets were decorated with Vatican and Equatorial Guinean flags.
Outside the official events, a small group of activists staged a silent protest calling for democratic reform and the release of political prisoners. Security forces dispersed the gathering without violence, according to witnesses. Several opposition figures had been prevented from leaving their homes in the days before the Pope’s arrival, according to local human rights organisations.
Equatorial Guinea has one of the worst human rights records on the continent. Obiang, who ousted his uncle in a coup in 1979, has survived multiple alleged assassination plots and has been accused by international organisations of torturing opponents, stifling press freedom and using state resources to enrich his family and associates. A 2016 Transparency International survey ranked it among the most corrupt countries in the world.
The Pope’s Africa Tour
The visit to Equatorial Guinea is the final stop on Leo XIV’s longest foreign trip since his election last year. The three-week tour has taken him to Cameroon, Angola, and now Equatorial Guinea — three of Africa’s most resource-rich nations, each with deeply troubled governance records.
In Cameroon, the Pope addressed a crowd of 120,000 and delivered a pointed message about peace and the rejection of violence that many interpreted as a critique of the ongoing security crisis in the country’s English-speaking regions. In Angola, he spoke powerfully about the legacy of colonisation and the need for Africa to chart its own course — remarks that were widely shared across the continent.
In each country, Leo XIV has sought to balance spiritual message with moral witness, offering pointed commentary without directly naming the governments he is addressing. It is a diplomatic tightrope that has won him praise from Catholic organisations and frustration from those who say the Pope should be more explicit in calling out abuses.
Equatorial Guinea, which is 80 percent Catholic, has been on the Pope’s itinerary for months. The visit was planned well before the recent escalation of regional crises, and Vatican officials have said the trip is a long-standing commitment rather than a political statement.
What the Visit Means
For the Obiang government, the papal visit offers a degree of international legitimacy that has been difficult to obtain otherwise. High-level visits from Western leaders are rare given the country’s human rights record, and the Pope’s presence — even in a spiritual context — signals that Equatorial Guinea remains part of the global community in a way that isolation cannot achieve.
For the Vatican’s part, the trip is an opportunity to strengthen Catholic institutions across Africa and to reinforce the continent’s growing importance to the global Church. Africa is now the world’s most Catholic continent by number of adherents, and the Pope has repeatedly said the future of the Church lies here.
Whether the visit will have any concrete effect on conditions inside Equatorial Guinea is unclear. Previous papal trips to countries with poor human rights records have rarely produced immediate change, though advocates say even symbolic pressure can make a difference over time.
As the Pope departed Malabo on Thursday, he left behind a country that remains deeply divided between a small wealthy elite and a majority living in poverty — and a Catholic community that will carry his words with them into a difficult daily reality.