Salvatore Cernuzio – envoy to Malabo
“Rain is a blessing from God,” the Pope said yesterday afternoon, as a tropical downpour fell on the prison in Bata. And so God blessed until the end this journey of Leo XIV through Africa, which concludes today, April 23, after eleven days, during which the Pope visited Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. In Malabo, he celebrated Holy Mass at the stadium before 30,000 faithful, gathered since dawn despite the downpour, which later gave way to a heavy, stormy sky. It was the culmination of a visit that has already gone down in history as the longest and most intense in the first year of Robert Francis Prevost’s pontificate – Vatican News emphasizes.
Eleven cities in eleven days
The Pope’s last gesture, from the Ita Airways Airbus, was a blessing with clasped hands and a greeting with open arms. Arms open like the continent that awaited and welcomed the Pope – “a pilgrim of peace, hope, and reconciliation” in great metropolises and small towns, drenched in oil, plundered of resources, deformed by chronic poverty or internal wars, yet full of the joy of life that only these nations can so vividly display. Chants, dances, jumps, flags, banners, hats, umbrellas – all accompanied these eleven days in four countries and eleven cities, reached thanks to eighteen flights and covering over 18,000 kilometers. Images of this journey remain in memory and in smartphone galleries, as do the Pope’s words, guidelines, and appeals for peace, fraternity, justice – the “true” one – for the ethics of power, fair distribution of resources, integral development, the role of young people, human rights, and the defense of the dignity of the poor and women. These are impulses for Africa to move forward with its head held high towards a future for which its peoples “are hungry.”
The last element of a great mosaic
The Pope experienced his last encounter with the crowd at the stadium in Malabo, where the Mass celebrated was the culmination of a great mosaic built throughout the apostolic journey. The Pope looked with clear emotion at this enormous multitude of faithful, standing in the middle of the field – barefoot in the mud and with sweat on their brows. Both during the papamobile ride and when he stepped onto the richly prepared stage: a white tent, red carpet, yellow flowers, a wooden structure with reliefs of baobabs and other typical trees, a crucifix, and inscriptions in various languages: “Blessed are the peacemakers. Blessed are the artisans of peace. Blessed are those who work for peace.” Above all, a figure of the Mother of God with indigenous features watched over: Our Lady with the Child from Bisila from the time when Christian missionaries had not yet reached Africa, who saved an entire people from a plague that mainly killed children. Initially revered as a mythological figure, she was later recognized by the Catholic Church and declared the patroness of Bioko Island, where Malabo is located. The Pope paid homage to her with a moment of silent prayer at the end of the liturgy, during which the readings were in Spanish, the hymns in Bubi, and the prayer of the faithful in various languages – including Annobonese, French, English, and Portuguese. A special role was played by the choir, composed mainly of women in white tunics and yellow capes, and a group of indigenous singers with painted and tattooed bodies, dressed in raffia skirts.
“Ciao Leone!”
Everyone – from the stage, through the stands, to the center of the field – joined in one great, common applause at the end of the Mass, when the Pope gave his blessing. They shouted in unison, drowned out by the music from the loudspeakers. The words were incomprehensible, but the message was one: “Ciao Leone, Africa loves you.” This farewell – for now – but for the Pope, who, as he said on his way to Africa, wished to go there for his first foreign trip after his election, it probably only means “see you again.”
