In a private audience on August 23 with a delegation from the Chagos Refugees Group, the pontiff blessed five statues of Mary, intended for chapels the refugees hope to restore upon their return to the Chagos Islands
Newsroom (26/08/2025, Gaudium Press ) Pope Leo XIV has issued a powerful defense of the Chagossian people, forcibly evicted from their Indian Ocean homeland between 1968 and 1973 to make way for a U.S.-UK military base on Diego Garcia. In a private audience on August 23 with a delegation from the Chagos Refugees Group, the pontiff blessed five statues of Mary, intended for chapels the refugees hope to restore upon their return to the Chagos Islands. He called their exile “a grave injustice” and urged global respect for the rights of all peoples, “especially the right to live in their own lands.”
“The renewed prospect of your return to your native archipelago is an encouraging sign and carries symbolic power on the international stage,” Pope Leo said. “All peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the powerful in their identity and their rights; no one can compel them into forced exile.” He acknowledged the “poverty, contempt, and exclusion” endured by the Chagossians during decades of displacement and praised their resilience, particularly the leadership of women in advocating for justice.
The Chagos Islands, located approximately 1,600 kilometers south of the Indian coast, were purchased by the UK from Mauritius for £3 million in 1968. Mauritius has long argued it was coerced into ceding the islands as a condition of its independence from the UK. Between 1968 and 1973, the UK forcibly removed around 1,000 Chagossians, relocating them to Mauritius, the Seychelles, or England, primarily in Crawley, West Sussex, to clear the archipelago for a joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
In May 2025, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed an agreement transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while secures a 99-year lease for the Diego Garcia base, with the UK agreeing to pay Mauritius an average of £101 million annually for the lease term. The deal includes a 24-mile buffer zone around Diego Garcia, where no construction can occur without UK consent, and grants the UK veto power over access to the other islands, barring foreign military or civilian forces. The agreement awaits ratification by the UK and Mauritian parliaments before the Chagossians and their descendants can return.
A UK Foreign Office spokesperson stated, “The UK is committed to a just resolution for the Chagossian people. The agreement with Mauritius reflects our dedication to addressing historical wrongs while maintaining strategic partnerships. We are engaging with Mauritius and the Chagossian community to ensure their voices are heard as we move toward implementation.” The spokesperson added that the Diego Garcia base is “essential” to the security of the UK and its allies, noting, “This deal secures the operations of the joint US-UK base for generations, with robust provisions for keeping its unique capabilities intact and our adversaries out.”
Pope Leo expressed gratitude to those who facilitated the sovereignty agreement, noting that “dialogue and respect for the decisions of international law have finally been able to remedy a grave injustice.” He called on Mauritian authorities and the international community to ensure the Chagossians’ return occurs “under the best possible conditions” and assured the delegation that the local Church would provide spiritual support, as it has “in times of trial.”
Echoing Pope Francis’s 2019 advocacy for the Chagossians during his visit to Port Louis, Mauritius, Pope Leo urged the community to “look resolutely to the future” and prayed for their healing: “May the Lord, with the prospect of a better future, heal your wounds and grant you the grace of forgiveness towards those who have harmed you.”
The Chagos Refugees Group welcomed the pope’s support, with a spokesperson stating, “His Holiness’s blessing of the statues and his call for justice strengthen our resolve. These statues represent our faith and our unbreakable bond with our homeland.” As the Chagossians await parliamentary approval of the sovereignty agreement, the pope’s words and the blessed statues stand as potent symbols of hope for a community seeking to reclaim its heritage after more than five decades of exile.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCAN News and The BBC
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