APTOPIX Equatorial Guinea Africa Pope
Pope Leo XIV, flanked by Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, right, is welcomed by Archbishop Juan Nsue Edjang Mayé, left, and Juan Domingo-Beka Esono Ayang upon his arrival at Malabo International Airport in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, Tuesday, April 21, 2026.
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Pope Leo XIV has denounced the “colonization” of minerals and the “lust for power” in Equatorial Guinea at the end of his four-nation African trip. The country's repressive leader has been in office since 1979. Crowds in the largely Catholic country lined the road from the airport on Tuesday, cheering the first pope to visit since St. John Paul II in 1982. The former Spanish colony on Africa’s western coast is one of the countries on the continent that's been paid millions of dollars in deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S.
Pope Leo XIV is urging Equatorial Guineans to work for freedom, justice and to close the gap “between the privileged and the disadvantaged.” Leo opened his day with a Mass in Mongomo. The eastern city is on the border with Gabon and has experienced major development since Equatorial Guinea’s oil boom in the 1990s. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who has been accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism comes from Mongomo. He and his wife were on hand for the Mass as was their son who has been convicted of embezzling millions of euros by a French court.
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