Day Ten in Africa: Dancing in the rain in Bata
By Joseph Tulloch – Bata, Equatorial Guinea
Pope Leo’s last full day in Africa came to a poetic end on Wednesday night, as a stadium full of young people sang and danced under an intense tropical rainstorm.
Tens of thousands had gathered in a football stadium in Bata, Equatorial Guinea’s largest city, for the Pope’s meeting with young people and families. Then the heavens opened.
While some ran for cover under the stadium’s roof, others stayed under the torrential rain, dancing together in a large group as they waited for the Pope’s arrival.
The atmosphere in the stadium – already electric – reached fever pitch when Leo appeared. Huge cheers went up not only for the Pope, but also for the locals who came up on stage with him to share stories of their faith and perform traditional dances.
In his speech, the Pope told those gathered that “the brightest light here is the one that shines in your eyes, on your faces, in your smiles and through your songs.” He encouraged his listeners to “always set an example of harmony among yourselves,” and demonstrate through their actions that “the greatest joys, in every situation, come from knowing how to give.”
No-one excluded from God's love
The rain had started earlier in the day, while Pope Leo was visiting Bata’s prison. Starting as a light trickle, it developed into a heavy downpour in a matter of minutes.
"Rain is a sign of God's blessing," the Pope declared before reading out his prepared speech, prompting a round of racous cheering.
Bata's prison is known for its harsh conditions, and rights organisations have raised concerns about the treatment of prisoners. The inmates meeting with the Pope had been made to stand in neat rows, with shaven heads and jumpsuits whose colour varied according to the crimes for which they had been imprisoned.
“No one is excluded from God’s love,” the Pope told the gathered prisoners. “Each of us, with our unique stories, mistakes and sufferings, remains precious in the Lord’s eyes.”
‘Hunger’ for a hopeful future
Earlier the same day, Pope Leo had visited Mongomo, a city in the east of Equatorial Guinea, on the border with Gabon.
There, he celebrated Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Africa’s second-largest Catholic church. Fireworks in the colours of the Equatoguinean flag rose up from the colonnade to greet him as he arrived, and a crowd numbering in the tens of thousands cheered and waved.
Formerly a tranquil border town, Mongomo was transformed by the discovery of oil in the 1990s – but, as elsewhere in the country, the newfound wealth remained in the hands of a select few.
In his homily, the Pope noted that God had endowed Equatorial Guinea with “great natural wealth,” and urged his listeners to work together to make it a “blessing for all.”
In Equatorial Guinea, he said, there is “hunger for a future imbued with hope,” not a future that we can “passively await,” but rather one that “we ourselves are called to build with God’s grace.”
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