The proliferation of armed conflicts is often driven by the exploitation of oil and mineral deposits, the pontiff has said Pope Leo XIV has criticized the “colonization” of Africa’s mineral resources in a speech in Equatorial Guinea, one of the continent’s top oil producers, where nearly half of the population still lives in poverty. The pontiff arrived in the central African nation on Tuesday for the final leg of his 11-day tour of the continent, having previously visited Algeria, Cameroon, and Angola. He was warmly welcomed by flag-waving and cheering crowds in the administrative capital, Malabo. In his address to Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and other officials, Pope Leo echoed the words of Pope Francis, who passed away one year ago, stating, “We must also say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality.…