Pope Leo XIV embarks on Monday on an 11-day tour of four African nations—Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea—marking his first major international trip since becoming pontiff last year.
Covering over 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles), the US-born leader will tackle dialogue with Islam, peace efforts, inequality, and human rights amid global uncertainty from the Middle East war and energy shocks.
The 70-year-old, who succeeded as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May, will deliver 11 speeches, preside over seven masses, and visit a dozen sites before the trip ends on April 23. This marks his third outing beyond Italy, following visits to Turkey and Lebanon last year, and Monaco in March.
Algeria (April 13-15): Making history
Leo will make history as the first pope to visit Algeria, where Islam is the state religion. He’ll tour the Great Mosque of Algiers, meet President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, and connect with fellow members of the Augustinian order in Annaba—once home to Saint Augustine.
“A brother who comes to visit his brothers,” said Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Algiers’ archbishop, ahead of the trip (AFP). Leo will also pray privately in a chapel honoring 19 priests and nuns killed during Algeria’s 1992-2002 civil war.
Three international NGOs have urged him to address the treatment of religious minorities with the authorities.
Cameroon (April 15-18): Call for peace
In majority-Christian Cameroon, Leo’s visit will center on peace and reconciliation amid nearly a decade of conflict in the English-speaking northwest.
The Catholic Church has mediated the violence; Leo’s center-piece will be a heavily secured speech and mass in Bamenda, its epicenter. He’ll tour the Church’s hospitals, schools, and charities serving about 37% of Cameroon’s 30 million people—who are Catholic—and meet 93-year-old President Paul Biya, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, despite past clergy criticism of his rule.
Angola (April 18-21): Tackling natural resources
In oil- and mineral-rich Angola—a former Portuguese colony still scarred by its 2002-ended civil war—Leo will push for equitable wealth distribution and anti-corruption measures amid stark poverty.
Catholics form 44% of the population and eagerly await him, though not all agree. “It represents nothing… millions of dollars from the state treasury, without benefits,” teacher Rosa Kanga, 42, told AFP.
Leo heads to Luanda’s contrasting affluent areas and slums, plus Muxima’s centuries-old church on a former slave route—one of southern Africa’s holiest sites.
Equatorial Guinea (April 21-23): Delicate balancing act
Leo faces a tightrope in Equatorial Guinea, ruled with an iron fist by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo since 1979. Catholics make up 80% of its two million people, but only John Paul II visited—nearly 50 years ago.
He’ll navigate supporting local faithful without endorsing the regime, likely stressing human rights and social justice. In Malabo—recently demoted as capital—giant papal photos and looped TV ads signal the hype.
AFP
