Pope Leo XIV heads to Equatorial Guinea for a diplomatically challenging visit

Pope Leo XIV is heading to Equatorial Guinea for the final leg of his four-nation African journey.

The former Spanish colony on Africa’s western coast is run by Africa’s longest-serving president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

He has been in power since 1979 and is accused of widespread corruption and authoritarianism.

The discovery of offshore oil in the mid-1990s transformed Equatorial Guinea’s economy virtually overnight.

Yet more than half of the country’s nearly 2 million people live in poverty.

And rights groups have documented how revenues have enriched the ruling Obiang family rather than the broader population.

For Leo, the visit marks perhaps the most delicate diplomatic challenge of his four-nation Africa tour.