US Edition
Pope meets with Chagos refugees and delivers message about rights of the weak against the powerful
Pope Leo XIV praised the treaty as a major step toward justice, noting the peaceful efforts of Chagossian women and urging Mauritius to support refugees' return.
- On August 23, 2025, Pope Leo XIV met with exiled Chagos refugees and affirmed their rights against powerful ambitions.
- This follows decades of displacement after Britain evicted around 2,000 Chagossians in the 1960s and 1970s to build a US military base on Diego Garcia.
- Earlier this year, the UK and Mauritius reached an agreement transferring sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius while guaranteeing the continuation of the military base’s lease for a minimum of 99 years and creating a trust fund to support the Chagossian community.
- Leo praised the peaceful role of Chagossian women and said, in French, the renewed prospect of return is “a powerful symbol on the international stage” and all peoples must be respected in their rights to live on their land.
- The treaty marks a significant victory in the Chagossians’ long battle to repair a grave injustice, though some fear resettlement could become harder after Mauritius takes control.
90 Articles
90 Articles
Pope defends rights of refugees evicted to build US military base
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Leo XIV blessed five statues of Mary that refugees evicted from their islands in order to build a major U.S. military base plan to place in the chapels they hope to restore when they return to their homelands. “The renewed prospect of your return to your native archipelago is an encouraging sign and carries symbolic power on the international stage: all peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the po…
The Doctor Against the Machine
Pope Leo XIII, who made the newest Doctor of the Church, St. John Henry Newman, a cardinal in 1879, established the foundation of modern Catholic social teaching in his encyclical Rerum Novarum, which addressed dehumanizing labor conditions in the face of the industrial revolution, unchecked capitalism, and socialism. Pope Leo XIV took the name Leo as a way to follow in these footsteps—not due to… Source
José Cobo writes a letter to the World Assembly of Catholics ArcoIris, gathered in the capital this weekend, and cries for "a Church where we listen to each other, with open, welcoming and fraternal doors" "Any believer should defend the rights of the collective": LGTBI+ Christians from all over the world raise their voices in Madrid The World Assembly of Catholics ArcoIris (GNRC), which this week has made Madrid the capital of LGTBI+ Christians…
Pope Meets With Chagos Refugees, Hails Treaty as ‘Significant Victory’
Pope Leo XIV strongly affirmed the rights of the weakest against the ambitions of the powerful during an audience Saturday with exiled refugees from Chagos, the contested Indian Ocean archipelago that is home to the strategic U.S.-U.K. military base, Diego Garcia.
Pope Leo hails Chagos Islands surrender as 'significant victory' after meeting refugees at Vatican
Pope Leo XIV has thrown his support behind Labour's decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, describing the agreement as a "significant victory" that addresses a "grave injustice"
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
