Pilgrimage Sites in Equatorial Guinea

On 7 December 2011 Cardinal Francis Arinze consecrated the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at Mongomo — the largest church in Central Africa and the second largest on the continent, surpassed only by Our Lady of Peace at Yamoussoukro. It rises on a hilltop near the Gabonese border, in a small city few outside Africa had heard of, and is dedicated to the patroness of the country.

Equatorial Guinea is among the most Catholic nations in Africa: roughly 80 percent of its 1.7 million people profess the faith, in the continent's only Spanish-speaking country. Claretian missionaries from Spain reached the island of Fernando Pó — now Bioko — in 1883 and extended their work to the mainland region of Río Muni, where Mongomo lies. The country marked the 170th anniversary of its evangelisation in 2025.