Pope Leo XIV backs UK-Mauritius deal returning Chagos Islands

Pope Leo XIV met with Chagos refugees in Rome on Saturday, praising a recent UK-Mauritius agreement that will return control of the disputed islands to Mauritius and allow thousands of displaced Chagossians to go home. 

The Pope congratulated the delegation for the £30 billion territory deal which has "finally helped rectify this grave injustice”, the pope said in reference to the forced exile of thousands of Chagossians in the 1960s and 70s.

During British control of the islands in 1966, the U.S secured a 50-year lease to build a military base on Diego Garcia island, where 2000 people lived and were subsequently evicted to Mauritius and the Seychelles.

”All peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the powerful in their identity and rights, particularly the right to live on their land; no one can be forced into exile,” Pope Leo said.

UK-Mauritius deal

In October, the UK agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, marking a major policy turnaround after  dismissing Mauritian territorial claims for decades.

The deal facilitates the return of up to 10,000 Chagossians and their descendants to their home islands except to Diego Garcia, where the UK will continue to lease the U.S military base.

Under the agreement, the UK will pay Mauritius an average of £101 million a year to lease back the strategically important naval base for 99 years.

Vatican push for settlement

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that the UK had unlawfully carved up Mauritius when it agreed to end colonial rule in the late 1960s.

The late Pope Francis visited Mauritius in 2019 and met a group of Chagossians at the Vatican in 2023.

Francis told reporters en route home from Mauritius in 2019 that the UK should obey the UN and return the islands to Mauritius.