Pope tells Equatoguineans ‘to follow in the footsteps of the missionaries’
In Mongomo, Leo XIV marked 170 years of evangelisation, inviting all the baptised to be "witnesses to a new humanity." He quoted Paul VI's appeal to Africans to be “missionaries to yourselves.” May "natural riches" be "a blessing for all." He slammed “the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged." In the afternoon, he visited Bata prison.
Mongomo (AsiaNews) – Leo XIV celebrated Mass this morning in Mongomo’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, patron saint of Equatorial Guinea, on the penultimate day of his first apostolic journey to Africa.
In his homily, he asked, “And what does this nation hunger for today?” answering that, “There is a hunger for a future imbued with hope that is capable of engendering a new sense of justice and producing fruits of peace and fraternity.”
During the address, the pontiff praised 170 years of evangelisation in the country, expressing "gratitude" for the work of missionaries, pastors, and lay people “who have devoted their lives in service to the Gospel.”
Leo also urged “all the baptized" Equatoguineans “to feel that they are part of the work of evangelization, and so become apostles of charity and witnesses to a new humanity,” which is the top reason for a future of hope.
This means following “in the footsteps” of those who came before, people who “have taken up the aspirations, questions and wounds of your people, and illuminated them with the Lord’s word.” Now “The future of Equatorial Guinea depends upon your choices,” he explained.
The service of “missionaries, diocesan priests, catechists and lay faithful” is “a sign of God’s love”. Theirs is a story that cannot be forgotten, and which enables each person to be “protagonists in proclaiming the Gospel”.
This service can be taken up by accepting the invitation Saint Paul VI made in Uganda in 1969: “Africans, from now on, you are missionaries to yourselves. The Church of Christ is well and truly planted in this blessed soil”.
“Each and every one of you is invited to make a personal commitment that encompasses your entire life,” Leo said, so that faith “may also nourish your charitable works and the sense of responsibility toward your neighbor, for building up the common good.”
“Such a commitment requires perseverance; it demands effort and, at times, sacrifice. Yet it is the sign that we are truly the Church of Christ.”
The pontiff noted that amid unfavourable personal, family, and social situations, the Lord's work is to make “the good seed of his Kingdom grow in ways unknown to us”. Indeed, the country’s often plundered “natural riches”, such as oil and mineral resources, should be used to “work together” so that they may be "a blessing for all."
Again Leo XIV reiterated his call to pursue the “common good” by “bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.”
“May there be greater room for freedom, and may the dignity of the human person always be safeguarded,” he said. “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.”
“Brothers and sisters, there is a need for Christians to take the destiny of Equatorial Guinea into their own hands. For this reason, I would like to encourage you: do not be afraid to proclaim the Gospel,” Leo stated at the end of the homily.
In the afternoon the pope visited the prison of Bata, his first visit to a place of incarceration since the start of his pontificate.
A harsh place of detention in the coastal city, it was described in a 2021 report by Amnesty International as one of the “world’s most infamous prisons” in a country where “hundreds of prisoners end up locked away for years on end, with no way of receiving visits from their lawyers and families.”
The pope later paid homage to the victims of the 7 March 2021 explosion in Bata at the memorial erected to commemorate them.
The incident occurred in a military barracks in the Nkoantoma neighbourhood; more than a hundred people were killed and over 600 were injured. There is no single version of events regarding the causes of the tragic event that shook the country.
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