Pope affirms rights of the weak vs the powerful
ROME—Pope Leo XIV strongly affirmed the rights of the weakest against the ambitions of the powerful during an audience on Saturday with refugees from Chagos, a contested Indian Ocean archipelago that is home to a strategic US-UK military base.
History’s first American pope insisted on the right of the Chagossian people to return to their homes and hailed a recent UK-Mauritius treaty over the archipelago’s future as symbolically important on the international stage.
Leo met with a delegation of refugees from Chagos, some 2,000 of whom who were evicted from their homes by Britain in the 1960s and 1970s so the United States could build a naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia.
Right to go home
Displaced islanders fought for years in UK courts for the right to go home. In May, Britain and Mauritius signed a treaty to hand sovereignty over the islands to Mauritius while still ensuring the future of the base.
Leo told the refugees he was “delighted” that the treaty had been reached, saying it represented a “significant victory” in their long battle to “repair a grave injustice.” He praised in particular the role of the Chagossian women in peacefully asserting their rights to go home.
“The renewed prospect of your return to your native archipelago is an encouraging sign and a powerful symbol on the international stage: all peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the powerful in their identity and rights, in particular the right to live on their land; and no one can force them into exile,” Leo said in French.
