For the final public event during his apostolic journey to Africa, Pope Leo XIV celebrated a Mass at the Malabo stadium, which was attended by tens of thousands of faithful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not surprising that the Pope received such a significant turnout in his farewell to the people of Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Eucharistic celebration began with the usual entrance procession. During the Mass, Pope Leo also recalled the memory of the recently deceased Bishop Esono.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to begin by warmly greeting this local Church of Malabo and its pastor, and at the same time express my heartfelt condolences to the entire archdiocesan community, to my brother priests, and to the family members on the passing, a few days ago, of its Vicar General, Bishop Fortunato Nsue Esono, whom we remember in this Eucharist.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bishop Esono died suddenly at the age of 39, just nine months after being appointed Vicar General, and only four days before Pope Leo's visit. His sudden death has left the community in shock and mourning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a country marked by sharp social distinctions and poverty despite abundant resources, there are signifigant challenges to justice and social cohesion. Surely mindful of all of this, the pope focused his message on hope for the faithful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christ is everything for us! In Him we find the fullness of life and meaning: \u201cIf you are oppressed by injustice, He is justice; if you are in need of help, He is strength; if you fear death, He is life; if you desire heaven, He is the way; if you are in darkness, He is light.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n After a long 11-day trip filled to the brim with public events, presidential visits, and daily meetings, Pope Leo has seen first-hand\u2014as he did when he was Prior General of the Augustinians\u2014the reality of the African Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am leaving Africa carrying with me an invaluable treasure of faith, hope, and charity. <\/em>It is a great treasure made up of stories, faces, and testimonies of joy and suffering that greatly enrich my life and my ministry as the Successor of Peter.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And so the door closes on a new chapter in the papacy of Pope Leo XIV. After his meeting, he headed to the Malabo airport, where he will bid farewell to the country's civil authorities before flying back to Rome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the final public event during his apostolic journey to Africa, Pope Leo XIV celebrated a Mass at the Malabo stadium, which was attended by tens of thousands of faithful. It is not surprising that the Pope received such a significant turnout in his farewell to the people of Equatorial Guinea. The Eucharistic celebration began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":89483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/__LfXMfW7hA","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bmessafineviaggioeng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/bmessafineviaggioint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89506,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89502\/revisions\/89506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}