Pope, at final Mass in Africa, highlights importance of Scripture and the Eucharist
April 23, 2026
Pope Leo XIV celebrated his final Mass in Africa this morning in a stadium in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s largest city, and highlighted the centrality of Sacred Scripture and the Holy Eucharist (video 1, video 2).
Today was the eleventh and final day of Pope Leo’s apostolic journey to four African nations and his third day in Equatorial Guinea (map). The nation of 1.9 million is 88% Christian (80% Catholic) and 4% Muslim.
Reflecting on the Scripture readings of Thursday of the Third Week of Easter, Pope Leo preached on Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40).
“As he returns to his homeland of Africa, which for him has become a place of servitude, the proclamation of the Gospel sets him free,” Pope Leo said. “The Word of God that he holds in his hands bears unexpected fruit in his life. Through his encounter with Philip, a witness of the crucified and risen Christ, the eunuch is transformed from a mere reader—a spectator—of Scripture into a protagonist in the very story that captivates him, because it now concerns him personally.”
The Pope commented:
Like him, we too have become Christians through Baptism, receiving the same light, that is, the same faith through which we read the Word of God: to reflect on the prophecies, to pray the psalms, to study the Law and to proclaim the Gospel through our lives.
All the texts of Scripture, in fact, reveal their true meaning in faith, because they were written and handed down to us through faith. Reading them, therefore, is always both a personal and an ecclesial act; it is never something done in isolation or in a merely mechanical way.
Together we read Scripture as the shared heritage of the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, who inspired its composition, and by Apostolic Tradition, which has preserved and transmitted it throughout the world. Like the eunuch, we too can come to understand the Word of God with the help of a guide who accompanies us on our journey of faith.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading (John 6:44-51), the Pontiff preached, “In Jesus, we are given an astonishing prospect: God gives himself for us. Do I trust that his love is stronger than my death? By deciding to believe in him, each of us chooses between inevitable despair and the hope that God offers.”
The Pope then exclaimed:
Thank you, Lord! We praise you and bless you, because you chose to become for us the Eucharist, the bread of eternal life, so that we might live forever. Dear friends, at this very moment, as we celebrate this sacrament of salvation, we can joyfully proclaim: Christ is everything for us! In him we find the fullness of life and meaning.
“If 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” (Saint Ambrose, De Virginitate, 16:99). Our problems do not disappear in the Lord’s presence, but they are illuminated. Just as every cross finds redemption in Jesus, so too the story of our lives finds its meaning in the Gospel.
“For this reason, I encourage all of you, as the living Church in Equatorial Guinea, to carry on the mission of Jesus’ first disciples with joy,” the Pope said at the conclusion of his homily. “As you read the Gospel together, proclaim it with passion, just as the deacon Philip did. And as you celebrate the Eucharist together, bear witness through your lives to the faith that saves, so that God’s word may become good leaven for all.”
Later, in his farewell remarks, Pope Leo concluded:
I leave Africa with an immeasurable treasure of faith, hope and charity: a great treasure consisting of stories, faces and testimonies, both joyful and sorrowful, which will greatly enrich my life and ministry as the Successor of Peter.
As in the early centuries of the Church, Africa today is called to make a decisive contribution to the holiness and the missionary character of the Christian people. May this be obtained through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, to whom I entrust you all, your families, your communities, your nation and all the people of Africa.
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