Pope, who has drawn the ire of United States (US) President Donald Trump with his more outspoken comments, will arrive from Angola, where on Monday he lamented that many people globally were being “exploited by authoritarians and defrauded by the rich.”
His statements were the latest evidence of a forceful new speaking style he has embraced while in Africa.
The first US Pope was due to arrive in Malabo, on the island of Bioko in the Gulf of Guinea, where he will give a speech to the country’s political leaders.
He will meet first with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979, three years before the Central African country’s only other papal visit, by Pope John Paul II back in 1982.
Pope’s arrival “presents a profound opportunity to affirm, clearly and convincingly, that human dignity, justice, and accountability are not optional, but essential responsibilities of governance,” Tutu Alicante, a US, based human rights lawyer and activist from Equatorial Guinea, told Reuters.
More than 70% of the country’s population of 1.8 million identify as Catholic.
Obiang, whose government oversaw a now-declining oil boom that began in the 1990s, has been widely criticized as one of the most repressive leaders in the region.
He denies allegations of human rights abuses and corruption.
–Reuters–
