Pope wraps up an Africa visit for the history books with a Mass in Equatorial Guinea

Pope Leo XIV concluded his extensive African tour on Thursday with a final Mass in Equatorial Guinea, capping an 11-day journey that garnered international attention due to his unprecedented verbal exchange with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Despite heavy rainfall that drenched approximately 30,000 early-morning attendees at Malabo sports stadium, the crowd’s enthusiasm remained undiminished as the pontiff arrived in his covered popemobile for a final greeting before departing for Rome.

The four-nation voyage took Leo from Algeria in North Africa to Angola in the south, with stops in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea along the way. Throughout his travels, he covered more than 17,700 kilometers (about 11,000 miles) on 18 separate flights, including three on Wednesday alone as he traversed Equatorial Guinea from its west coast to its eastern border with Gabon and back.

As the first American pope in history, Leo received enthusiastic welcomes in each country he visited, with particularly vibrant receptions in regions that had never before hosted a papal visit. His tour followed in the tradition established by Pope Paul VI, who made the first modern papal foreign visit in 1964, and later expanded by St. John Paul II, whose 104 foreign trips over 25 years revolutionized the papacy’s global outreach.

At Thursday’s final Mass, dedicated followers like Michaela Mecha and her sister Encarnacion arrived at 4 a.m. despite the downpour, dressed in pope-themed attire complete with yellow umbrellas bearing Leo’s image. “We feel very special and blessed that the pope has chosen our country,” said Michaela, a nurse who brought her two young daughters. “This visit is bringing young people closer to God.”

During his homily, the pontiff addressed the April 17 death of Rev. Fr. Fortunato Nsue Esono Ayíambeng, a member of the trip’s organizing committee and the vicar general of Malabo, calling for “full light to be shed on the circumstances of his death” – an apparent reference to rumors of possible foul play.

What few could have anticipated was how Leo’s first African tour would be overshadowed by an escalating war of words with Trump. The confrontation began when the U.S. president accused the pope of being soft on crime and sympathetic to left-wing politics. As Trump’s attacks continued and Vice President JD Vance advised Leo to “be careful” when speaking about theology, the pontiff attempted to defuse tensions by suggesting the media had taken his statements out of context.

The strategy appeared successful, allowing Leo to refocus on his agenda for Africa: encouraging Catholics while criticizing what he termed the “colonization” of the continent’s natural resources by foreign interests.

The journey featured numerous emotionally charged moments, including Leo’s spontaneous departure from protocol at a psychiatric hospital in Sampaka, Equatorial Guinea, where he greeted patients individually and posed for selfies. Another powerful scene unfolded when the pope, whose ancestry includes both enslaved persons and slave owners, prayed the rosary in Muxima, Angola – once a hub of the African slave trade and now Angola’s most popular pilgrimage site.

Personal moments dotted the journey as well, such as Leo’s visit with nuns from his Augustinian religious order in Bab El Oued, Algeria, where he selected a tree-of-life necklace, assuring the superior, “It’s not for me, it’s for my niece.”

In Bamenda, Cameroon, Leo traveled to the heart of a long-running separatist conflict, appealing for peace while condemning the “handful of tyrants” devastating the Earth – remarks that later prompted him to clarify he wasn’t referring to Trump.

One troubling episode occurred during Leo’s visit to a prison in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, where inmates with shaved heads wore new uniforms and stood silently in assigned positions in a freshly painted courtyard. After the pope departed, the prisoners erupted in chants of “Libertad! Libertad! Libertad!” (Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!).

The extensive journey encompassed several milestones, including the first anniversary of Pope Francis’ death, which Leo commemorated with an impromptu tribute from the papal plane, praising his predecessor’s mercy and compassion.

Throughout the trip, Leo’s interactions with the media provided insights of particular interest to local populations, including his suggestion that Angola might receive its first cardinal appointment “a bit further on” – news that was warmly received in the southern African nation.

As the pope returns to Rome, his historic African journey will likely be remembered both for its extensive itinerary and for the unexpected diplomatic tensions that briefly dominated headlines before giving way to the spiritual and humanitarian messages that formed the core of his mission.