Malabo, EQUATORIAL GUINEA — Pope Leo XIV concluded his ambitious 11-day, four-nation Apostolic Journey to Africa on Thursday, departing for Rome following a final open-air Mass in Malabo.
The tour, which covered nearly 18,000 kilometers, has been defined by the first American Pontiff’s shift toward an unexpectedly forceful speaking style, directly targeting wealth inequality and “neocolonial” power structures.
Tens of thousands of faithful gathered in the pouring rain before dawn at a stadium in Equatorial Guinea to catch a final glimpse of the Holy Father. In his 25th and final speech of the tour, Pope Leo delivered a homily centered on liberation, telling worshippers that the Christian message means “every people is set free from the slavery of evil.”
Okay News reports that the Pope’s departure shortly after midday followed a series of stops in Algeria, Cameroon, and Angola, where he repeatedly warned that the “whims of the world’s richest” are a primary threat to global peace.
The journey was shadowed by a public feud with US President Donald Trump, who labeled the Pope “terrible” shortly before the tour began. The friction stemmed from Leo’s vocal opposition to the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign in Iran.
While the Pope clarified that his speeches were drafted weeks in advance and not intended as a personal attack on Trump, he told reporters on April 13 that he would not be silenced by political criticism and would continue to decry a world “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.”
