Pope Leo XIV visits Bata Prison in Equatorial Guinea

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday made a tightly controlled visit to a prison in Equatorial Guinea's biggest city.

Prisoners lined up in the courtyard of Bata prison, and greeted the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics. "The administration of justice aims to protect society," the US-born pontiff, told the 600 detainees, which included about 30 women.  He stressed that “every effort should be made” to ensure that incarcerated people “are given the opportunity to study and to work with dignity while in prison”.

He added that “life is not defined solely by one’s mistakes”, and there is always the possibility “to start over, learn and become a new person.”