Pope Leo XIV has embarked a 10-day visit to Africa in what is being described as one of the most complex and wide-ranging papal journeys in recent years.
The trip will take him across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, marking his first visit to the continent since becoming Pope. It comes at a time when Africa is home to more than 288 million Catholics, around 20.3% of the global Catholic population, making it the fastest-growing region for the Church worldwide.
The tour will include 11 cities and towns and will require substantial travel, including 12 flights and four helicopter transfers. Pope Leo will give eight addresses, eight homilies, and six formal greetings in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.
According to Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official and close adviser to the Pope, the Holy Father is visiting with a mission “to help turn the world’s attention to Africa.”
As the first Augustinian Pope, Pope Leo XIV is visiting a continent closely tied to the origins of his order, which traces its inspiration to St Augustine of Hippo in North Africa.
The Holy Father will be accompanied on the journey by cardinals of the Roman Curia: Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State; Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation of Peoples; George Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, and two African cardinals: Peter Turkson of Ghana and Robert Sarah of Guinea.
Senior African Cardinal, Francis Arinze expressed happiness and appreciation that Pope Leo will visit four African nations within the first year of his papacy.
He praised the visit as “a great encouragement” for the leaders of these four nations as they work to “develop in social, cultural, educational, and interreligious matters, in collaboration with peoples from differing political backgrounds.”
Four Nations, One Journey
Pope Leo’s 10-day journey of Africa begins in Algeria, where he will be the first pontiff to visit the country, despite the fact that Algeria, a North African nation of over 48 million people, is largely Sunni Muslim, with less than 10,000 Catholics, according to Vatican data.
In Algeria, he will begin his tour with an engagement at the Maqam Echaid memorial before meeting privately with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the presidential house in El Mouradia. He will then address over 1,400 government, civil society, and diplomatic officials at the Djamaa el Djazair congress center, where discussions are expected to center on peace, social cohesion, and interreligious dialogue in a country shaped by colonial history and internal conflict.
Also, the Holy Father will make a symbolic visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers, of which, according to Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, “serves as a natural continuation of the path of interreligious dialogue already undertaken in Türkiye and Lebanon, a dialogue that the Holy Father intends to pursue with patience and determination.”
Furthermore, Pope Leo will arrive in a country that has been ruled for more than four decades by President Paul Biya, who at 93 remains the world’s oldest head of state. His visit to Cameroon will take place against the backdrop of a long-running conflict in the English-speaking regions, rooted in post-colonial divisions and tensions over governance and identity.
Pope Leo XIV is anticipated to prioritize peacebuilding and reconciliation when traveling through Yaoundé, Douala, and Bamenda before proceeding on to Angola.
In Angola, a country of around 36.6 million people, more than 30% of the population is expected to be living on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank. Pope Leo will arrive in Luanda, where President João Manuel Gonçalves will welcome him.
In his engagements there, he is expected to focus on poverty, inequality, corruption and education challenges in a country still shaped by the legacy of its civil war, which ended in 2002. Pope Leo XIV is set to meet Angola’s Catholic bishops and will travel to the Marian shrine of Muxima, a major pilgrimage destination visited by millions each year. He will depart Angola on April 21, marking the first anniversary of Pope Francis’s death, before continuing his journey to Equatorial Guinea.
In Equatorial Guinea, Pope Leo will be received by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and hold talks with state officials, civil society and diplomatic representatives before visiting the national university campus and a psychiatric hospital, where he will meet students, staff and patients as well as celebrate Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception before continuing to Bata for a prison visit, a prayer at the site of a 2021 explosion, and a youth engagement.
The visit will conclude with a final Mass in Malabo before he is expected to depart for Rome, where he will hold a press conference aboard his return flight.
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, stated that, “Pope Leo XIV travels to Africa to be close to those living on the existential peripheries.”
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