{"id":7694,"date":"2026-04-24T00:07:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:37:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/pope-tells-inmates-you-are-not-alone-during-equatorial-guinea-prison-visit-at-end-of-africa-tour\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:07:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T18:37:02","slug":"pope-tells-inmates-you-are-not-alone-during-equatorial-guinea-prison-visit-at-end-of-africa-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/pope-tells-inmates-you-are-not-alone-during-equatorial-guinea-prison-visit-at-end-of-africa-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope tells inmates &#8216;you are not alone&#8217; during Equatorial Guinea prison visit at end of Africa tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_7Q5y4Hqmb9Q?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=2.7.1\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>BATA, Equatorial Guinea (AP) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/pope-leo-xiv\">Pope Leo XIV<\/a> told inmates at one of <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/equatorial-guinea\">Equatorial Guinea\u2019s<\/a> notorious prisons on Wednesday that they are not alone, as he delivered a message of hope during a visit that drew attention to prison conditions, human rights abuses and injustices that campaigners have denounced for years here.<\/p>\n<p>Leo\u2019s visit to the prison in the Central African port city of Bata followed in the tradition of Pope Francis, who frequently met with inmates on his foreign visits to give them a message of hope.<\/p>\n<p>But Leo\u2019s stop, at the end of his four-nation African tour, took on added significance after it emerged that Equatorial Guinea was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/equatorial-guinea-deportations-trump-asylum-migrants-9d0a623b83288f5c7b1d1a71443d04cd\">one of several African nations<\/a> that have been paid millions of dollars in controversial deals with the Trump administration to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.<\/p>\n<p>While none of those migrants are being held at Bata, the visit put the spotlight on Equatorial Guinea\u2019s overall human rights record and its judiciary, which rights campaigners have criticized for its lack of independence, arbitrary detentions and other abuses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou are not alone. Your families love you and are waiting for you. Many people outside these walls are praying for you,\u201d Leo told the inmates in Spanish. \u201cIf any of you fear being abandoned by everyone, know that God will never abandon you, and that the Church will stand by your side.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The inmates, all dressed in new neon orange and beige uniforms, had gathered in a central courtyard of the prison, which appeared to have been recently painted salmon pink. As soon as he started speaking, a huge rainstorm opened, drenching the inmates.<\/p>\n<p>In his remarks, Leo also reminded authorities that justice is meant to protect society, but that incarceration is not meant to be punishment alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be effective, it must always promote the dignity and potential of every person,\u201d he said. \u201cTrue justice seeks not so much to punish as to help rebuild the lives of victims, offenders and communities wounded by evil.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Leo left, the drenched inmates broke into a raucous dance party in the courtyard as the rain continued to pour, shouting \u201cLibertad! Libertad! Libertad!\u201d (Freedom, freedom, freedom).<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Greater room for freedom\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Leo began the day with Mass in Mongomo, an eastern city on the border with Gabon that has experienced major development since Equatorial Guinea\u2019s oil boom in the 1990s.<\/p>\n<p>President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism in his four-decade rule, comes from Mongomo and the city has benefited from government investment and infrastructure, even though no official institutions are located here.<\/p>\n<p>While more than half of Equatorial Guinea\u2019s population lives in poverty, Mongomo boasts opulent buildings, curated gardens behind gilt-tipped gates, an 18-hole golf course and is the starting point of the lone highway in the country, linking the city to Bata on the west coast.<\/p>\n<p>Obiang and his wife were on hand for Leo\u2019s Mass, as was their son, Teodoro \u201cTeddy\u201d Nguema Obiang, the country\u2019s vice president who was <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/8029e95046324d30b1cf44f2145d5f2c\">convicted of embezzling millions<\/a> of euros by a French court, which handed him a three-year suspended sentence, a 30 million euro ($35.2 million) fine and ordered the seizure of his luxury homes and cars in France worth tens of millions of euros. The country has <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/equatorial-guinea-france-mansion-un-court-e0123d76caac2b8d6a557fc19849312c\">protested the seizures<\/a> at the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the United States gave the younger Obiang a temporary waiver on U.S. corruption sanctions so he could travel to a U.N. gathering and visit other American cities. Obiang also met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau.<\/p>\n<p>The Vatican said an estimated 100,000 people attended the Mass, most standing in the grand entryway to Mongomo\u2019s Basilica of the Immaculate Conception. The monumental church was consecrated in 2011 and is modeled on St. Peter\u2019s Basilica in the Vatican.<\/p>\n<p>In his homily, Leo urged all citizens to work together to build a society \u201ccapable of engendering a new sense of justice,\u201d where there is \u201cgreater room for freedom\u201d and where \u201cthe dignity of the human person always may be safeguarded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He urged everyone, according to their roles, to work to \u201cserve the common good rather than private interests, bridging the gap between the privileged and the disadvantaged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy thoughts go to the poorest, to families experiencing difficulty and to prisoners who are often forced to live in troubling hygienic and sanitary conditions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Troubling disregard for human life\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Equatorial Guinea\u2019s prisons and justice system have been repeatedly faulted by the United Nations and condemned by human rights groups and the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n<p>In its 2023 report on the country, the U.S. listed a host of abuses, including arbitrary or unlawful killings and arrests, political detentions, torture, life-threatening prison conditions and \u201cserious problems\u201d with the judiciary\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to journalists at the Bata prison, Equatorial Guinea Justice Minister Reginaldo Biyogo Ndong denied the rights abuses and said the country\u2019s prison and justice systems respect international human rights laws. He said the country\u2019s justice system features an \u201cenviable\u201d infrastructure and that it\u2019s \u201cready to guarantee human rights, fundamental rights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the eve of his prison visit, 70 human rights organizations published an open letter to Leo, urging him to speak out especially about the U.S. deportation of migrants here and encourage African nations to not be complicit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese practices circumvent humanitarian protections, expose refugees to detention and coercion, and subject individuals to refoulement, in direct contravention of international law,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In the run-up to Leo\u2019s arrival, the government released nearly 100 people who had been arrested in a 2022 crackdown on street violence, according to a local lawyer, who requested anonymity given the country\u2019s human rights record.<\/p>\n<p>The lawyer termed the releases one \u201cpositive outcome\u201d of the visit but also noted that the government still hasn\u2019t taken action on releasing jailed activists and politicians.<\/p>\n<p>EG Justice, a rights group which has repeatedly denounced the detention of political prisoners in Equatorial Guinea, urged Leo to use his moral authority to speak out about abuses and the detention of activists and politicians especially.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are individuals \u2014 prisoners of conscience, and human rights activists \u2014 in detention whose cases raise serious humanitarian and due process concerns,\u201d said Tutu Alicante, a U.S.-based activist who runs the EG Justice group.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Monika Pronczuk contributed to this report from Malabo.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/bit.ly\/ap-twir\">collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/04\/23\/pope-tells-inmates-you-are-not-alone-during-equatorial-guinea-prison-visit-at-end-of-africa-tour\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BATA, Equatorial Guinea (AP) \u2014 Pope Leo XIV told inmates at one of Equatorial Guinea\u2019s notorious prisons on Wednesday that they are not alone, as he delivered a message of hope during a visit that drew attention to prison conditions, human rights abuses and injustices that campaigners have denounced for years here. Leo\u2019s visit to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}