Pope Leo confronts inequality in Equatorial Guinea
Pope Leo saved some of his most pointed words for last. Wrapping up a four-nation tour of Africa in Equatorial Guinea, one of the continent’s wealthiest yet most unequal nations, the pontiff used his platform to speak directly to the realities that the country’s oil riches have done little to change for most of its people.
At a Mass attended by roughly 100,000 people at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mongomo on Wednesday, the Pope did not shy away from the difficult subjects, addressing prison conditions, resource inequality and the gap between those who benefit from Equatorial Guinea’s wealth and those who do not, all with the country’s leader, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, seated in the congregation.
“My thoughts go to the poorest, to families experiencing difficulty and to prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions,” Pope Leo said.
His concern for prisoners was not abstract. Later that evening, on his last full day in the country, he was scheduled to visit a notorious jail in the economic capital Bata, a facility Amnesty International has described as one where inmates are “reportedly routinely beaten as punishment” and where numerous prisoners “have neither been seen nor heard from, and their relatives do not know whether they are alive or dead.”
On the country’s vast oil wealth, the Pope’s message was equally direct, urging Equatoguineans to ensure their natural resources serve the many rather than enrich the few. “The Creator has endowed you with great natural wealth. I urge you to work together so that it may be a blessing for all,” he said, warning that the country’s future depended on the choices its people make.
He also called on citizens “to serve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged”, language that landed with particular weight in a country where, despite enormous oil revenues, the World Bank reports more than half the population lives in poverty. Transparency International lists Equatorial Guinea among the world’s most corrupt states, and the government has faced persistent accusations of diverting oil income to benefit a ruling elite, accusations it denies.
The president’s own son, who serves as vice-president, was fined by a French court in 2020 for using public funds to finance a lavish lifestyle in France, with his assets there subsequently seized.
Pope Leo also touched on political freedoms, saying pointedly: “May there be greater room for freedom and may the dignity of the human person always be safeguarded.” Political opposition in Equatorial Guinea operates in an environment of severe restrictions, with all broadcast media either owned or controlled by the government.
Obiang, who is 83 years old and has held power since seizing it in 1979, met privately with the Pope on Tuesday.
The Equatorial Guinea visit closes a tour in which Leo has spoken with unusual candour throughout, denouncing “tyrants” who spend billions on wars and condemning what he described as the “colonization” of Africa’s mineral resources during stops in Algeria, Cameroon, and Angola. The trip itself began amid diplomatic friction, with the Pope having criticized Donald Trump over threats toward Iran shortly before departing, prompting the US president to describe the pontiff as “bad for foreign policy.”
Source: BBC
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