Some who fled abuses in Equatorial Guinea fear pope’s visit might legitimize longtime ruler

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gutïn Bae Tongala, a 59-year-old cook from the tiny island of Annobon in Equatorial Guinea, is not happy about Pope Leo XIV's visit to his homeland.

He left Equatorial Guinea in 2002 to take refuge in Spain, blaming what he said was the government's abuse of minority groups and decades of systemic oppression from the ruling family.

According to Vatican data, about 75% of Equatorial Guinea's population is Catholic — one of the highest percentages in Africa. It's the last stop on the pope's four-nation visit to the continent, after Algeria, Cameroon and Angola.

While in Equatorial Guinea, Leo has denounced the “colonization” of Africa’s minerals and the “lust for power” and has urged the country to work for justice and to close the gap “between the privileged and the disadvantaged.”

Tongala and others who fled Equatorial Guinea told The Associated Press that President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Africa’s longest-serving president in power since 1982, could tout the papal trip as a blessing for his government accused by activists of running a repressive regime.

“Obiang knows very well that the pope’s visit comes like a ring on his finger,” Tongala said from Spain. “Obiang will use the pope’s presence to clean up his image.”

The president has tried to gain respect from the international community through high-profile events, like hosting the pope or organizing the Africa Cup of Nations football competition — twice in 2012 and 2015, said Tutu Alicante, a U.S.-based activist who runs the EG Justice rights group.

The Catholic Church is deeply rooted in the country

Equatorial Guinea is officially a secular country, but the Catholic Church, a legacy of Spain’s colonization, is at the center of its political and social systems. Churches provide educational centers, hospitals and social spaces for the population of nearly 1.9 million.

State ceremonies such as the presidential inauguration and Independence Day feature a Catholic Mass. In 2011, Obiang was inaugurated in the sprawling neo-Gothic Basilica of Immaculate Conception in his hometown, Mongomo, which is modeled on St. Peter's Basilica and Square at the Vatican. The basilica is the largest religious building in Central Africa and the second largest in Africa, after the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Ivory Coast.

The church leaders "are very much interconnected intrinsically with the government," Alicante said. “Part of it is the fear the government has instilled in everyone, including the church, and part of it is the monetary gains that the church derives from this government.”

Catholic officials in the country and the government did not respond to AP's request for comments about reported abuses in the country.

However, the Rev. Fortunatus Nwachukwu, No. 2 in the Vatican’s missionary evangelization office, told the AP on Tuesday that the Catholic Church is present in difficult civil spaces and navigates them.

“Should the church go to war against the government? Surely no,” Nwachukwu said. “Should the church swallow everything as if it were normal? No. The church has to continue preaching justice, always in defense of life, human dignity and the common good.”

The Catholic Church in Equatorial Guinea also has a convoluted history with power in the country. Former President Francisco Macias Nguema persecuted Catholics, closed several churches and banned the church in 1978 to cut ties with Spain, the country’s former colonial power.

Then came Obiang, who took power in 1979 by deposing his uncle, Nguema, and overturned the ban. Obiang transitioned into a civilian leader in 1982, the same year he received St. John Paul II during a visit to the country.

Obiang has since remained in power, winning six elections under controversial circumstances.

Pleas for the pope to use his voice to speak against repression, abuses

More than half the population is poor, according to the World Bank. Rights groups have accused the government of using the nation's oil wealth to enrich mainly the president’s family. One of the president's sons is the vice president and was convicted of money laundering and embezzlement in France and sanctioned by the U.K. under similar circumstances.

A 2024 report by Amnesty International also documented what it called “widespread use of arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment” in the country.

Carmelo Ovono Obiang, the president's other son, was investigated in 2024 by the Spanish high court over the alleged kidnapping and torture of two opposition leaders with Spanish citizenship.

Experts and citizens now living outside the country said the president is using Leo’s visit to push for legitimacy despite discontent over the family’s tight grip on power.

Last year, the AP reported on the government's prolonged internet shutdown in Annobon Island over protests on the debilitating practices by a construction company. The country is also one of several African nations paid millions in opaque deals with the U.S. to receive migrants deported from the U.S. to countries other than their own.

“I would like the pope to speak out in defense of the Christians who live in Equatorial Guinea and who have to endure the abuses of human rights that occur day by day at the orders of Obiang Nguema,” said Jorge Awal, 27, who now works in the private sector in Spain.

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