Pope Leo XIV, during his first, apostolic journey through Africa, has challenged universities to lead the fight against what he called the “scourge of corruption” in Africa by producing young people who are not only equipped intellectually, but whose consciences are also formed with fairness, integrity and a spirit of service.

He also called on students to stay on the continent and serve Africa. He made the calls at the Catholic University of Central Africa, or L’Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale (UCAC), in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where he received an enthusiastic welcome.

The Pope visited 11 cities across four nations from 13 to 23 April 2026: beginning in Algeria (Algiers and Annaba, with its historic ties to St Augustine), continuing through Cameroon, then proceeding to Angola (Luanda, the Marian shrine at Muxima, and Saurimo), and concluding in Equatorial Guinea (Malabo, Mongomo and Bata).

On the final stop, landing in Malabo, the former capital of Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa, 44 years after John Paul II’s 1982 visit, the Pope inaugurated a new university and met President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo before an address in which he denounced inequality and the exploitation of natural resources, urging authorities to place the common good above all else.

In his address, the Pope noted that institutions of higher learning must focus on educating responsible citizens capable of serving society.

He told students, who gathered under palm trees of the modern university facility singing and cheering his name in Spanish, to take their destinies into their own hands and to pursue truth, faith, and the common good – to put the country on its rails. His words come in a context in which the people of Equatorial Guinea are still waiting to benefit from its oil wealth.

Serving the ‘common good’

At the new campus of the National University of Equatorial Guinea (UNGE), named León XIV, a statute of the Pope was also unveiled. The campus is located in northern Bioko Island. The country’s largest academic facility, UNGE, a public institution, was founded in 1995.

“Thank you for your invitation to this event, in which a new campus of the National University of Equatorial Guinea is inaugurated. I am expressing my gratitude for the kind gesture of naming the campus after me,” Pope Leo said at the event, adding, “I am aware that such a decision goes beyond the person being honoured, as it reflects the values that we all want to pass on to others.”

He said the inauguration of a university campus is more than a mere administrative act, but rather is “an act of trust in human beings, an affirmation of the fact that it is worth the effort to continue wagering on the formation of new generations and on the task, so demanding and yet so noble, of seeking the truth and putting knowledge at the service of the common good”.

Filiberto Ntutumu Nguema Nchama, the rector of the campus, and Archbishop Juan Nsue Edjang Mayé of Malabo, received the Pope, who also spoke about the symbolic meaning of the ceiba, the national tree, for the people.

He said a tree has deep roots, and ascends with patience and strength. Likewise, he suggested, “a university is called to be well-rooted in the seriousness of study, in the living memory of a people and in the persevering search for truth”.

“If generations of men and women are profoundly shaped in this place by truth and are capable of transforming their own existence into a gift for others,” he said, “then the ceiba will remain an eloquent symbol rooted in the best things of this land, elevated by wisdom and abounding in fruits that pay tribute to Equatorial Guinea and enrich the entire human family.”

Pope Leo also visited the Pope Francis Technology School in the eastern city of Mongomo in Equatorial Guinea.

The visit to the school named after his predecessor took place one day after the first-year anniversary of Pope Francis’ death. The Pope Francis Technology School is an educational institution that works to promote technological and vocational training, especially for young people.

Caution against migration

Earlier, during his visit to Cameroon, Pope Leo cautioned students against the tendency to migrate after completing their studies in search of “a better future”, urging them, instead, to apply their knowledge to serve fellow citizens.

“Dear sons and daughters of Central Africa, dear students, in the face of the understandable tendency to migrate, which may lead one to believe that, elsewhere, a better future may be more easily found, I invite you, first and foremost, to respond with an ardent desire to serve your country and to apply the knowledge you are acquiring here to the benefit of your fellow citizens,” he said.

In his address to students and academics, the pope also spoke about graduate unemployment, the importance of science-related studies and research, and the challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence, or AI. He encouraged students to be pioneers of “a new humanism in the context of the digital revolution”. The encounter is available via this livestream.

‘Common search for truth’

The pope urged students to let their studies be informed by “the light of faith, joined to the truth of love”, drawing on the teaching of St John Henry Newman.

“Professors and students are called to embrace as both their aim and their way of life the common search for truth for, as St John Henry Newman wrote, ‘All true principles run over with God, all phenomena converge to him’,” he said.

UCAC was founded following an agreement between the Holy See and the Republic of Cameroon in 1989 and serves more than 2,000 students from six Central African countries: Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Chad.

Cameroon’s Minister of Higher Education, Professor Jacques Fame Ndongo, as well as rectors and vice-chancellors of the 11 state universities, were present to welcome the pope.

To mark the visit, the university inaugurated a square on campus, naming it after St Augustine in honour of Pope Leo.

It was also announced that an ongoing Catholic university teaching hospital under construction will bear the name of Pope Leo XIV in honour of the visit.

The Rector of UCAC, Reverend Professor Thomas Bienvenu Tchoungui, said the university has 10 campuses spread across four countries in the region – the Republic of Congo, Chad, the Central African Republic and Cameroon – with a student population of about 8,000 and 1,152 lecturers.

Towards communities of research

He said the quality of training at the university enables more than 75% of graduates to find jobs amid high unemployment challenges in Africa.

Responding to students’ concerns, the pontiff said universities in general, and Catholic universities in particular, can become “true communities of life and research”, introducing “students and professors alike to a fraternity in knowledge”.

Through knowledge, which, he said, above all means dialogue, it becomes possible to set aside individualism, superficiality and hypocrisy.

“The university stands out as a privileged place of friendship, cooperation and, at the same time, of interiority and reflection,” he said.

This article was first published here.