April 22 (UPI) -- On the final stop of his trip through Africa, Pope Leo XIV addressed officials in Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday, calling on people to work against inequality and exclusion and to safeguard natural resources.
Speaking in Melabo, the nation's capital, to an audience including government officials and diplomats, the pontiff condemned economies that seek profit at all costs, Euro News reported.
"Such an economy kills," he said. "In fact, it is even more evident today than in previous years that the outbreak of armed conflicts is often driven by the colonization of oil and mineral resources, without respect for international law or the self-determination of peoples."
Pope Leo spoke after a welcome by Equatorial Guinea's president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has faced many accusations of corruption and authoritarianism in his 47 years in power. More than half of the country's people live in poverty despite rich offshore oil resources.
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