Pope Leo denounces inequality at Mass in Equatorial Guinea

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea, on Wednesday, with the Vatican estimating that 100,000 people attended the service at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. During his homily, the pontiff urged citizens to work together to build a society "capable of engendering a new sense of justice," with greater room for freedom and safeguards for human dignity. He called on those present to serve the common good rather than private interests, directly addressing the Central African nation's record of human rights abuses and massive inequality in distributing the oil-rich nation's wealth. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has ruled Equatorial Guinea since 1979, making him the world's longest-serving leader, attended the Mass alongside his wife and son Teodoro "Teddy" Nguema Obiang, the nation's vice president. The younger Obiang was recently convicted by a French court of embezzlement and ordered to pay a €30 million fine, though the U.S. temporarily waived corruption sanctions on him last year so he could attend a UN gathering. After Mass, Leo was scheduled to visit a prison in the port city of Bata, continuing in the footsteps of his predecessor Pope Francis, who made such visits a priority. Over 70% of Equatorial Guinea's 1.8 million citizens identify as Roman Catholic, and Africa accounts for more than 20% of Catholics worldwide. Human rights advocates have expressed concern that the papal visit, while offering a rare opportunity to spotlight injustice, risks being appropriated by the regime for its own validation. Pope Leo, who is on an 11-day tour of Africa, has previously called the Trump administration's migration deportation policy "extremely disrespectful." Earlier reports indicated that Equatorial Guinea was among several African nations paid millions of dollars by the Trump administration to accept migrants deported from the United States.