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6d ago

Pope Leo Opens Africa Tour With First-Ever Papal Visit to Algeria

The U.S.-born pontiff sets a peace-focused tone with a high-profile outreach to Algeria’s Muslim majority.

People attend a ceremony for the reopening of the basilica of Saint-Augustin in Algeria's eastern city of Annaba on October 19, 2013.
A banner showing a photo of Pope Leo XIV and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Annaba, eastern Algeria, Saturday, April 11, 2026, ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit. The banner in Arabic reads, "Let's live in peace and harmony." (AP Photo/Fateh Guidoum)
Pope Leo XIV presides over the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) procession during Good Friday celebrations, at the Colosseum, in Rome Italy, April 3, 2026.
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Overview

  • Pope Leo XIV, who arrived in Algiers on Monday, opened an 11-day journey across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
  • In Algiers he met President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, prayed at the Martyrs’ Monument, visited the Great Mosque, and spoke at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa with a call for unity and peace.
  • He warned leaders against “neocolonial” abuses and said he will keep denouncing the Iran war after President Trump criticized him hours before departure.
  • Algerian authorities declined a Vatican request to add a prayer stop at the Tibhirine monastery, highlighting rights sensitivities that also shadow his planned visit to a prison in Bata, Equatorial Guinea.
  • The tour moves next to Cameroon for a Bamenda peace meeting and a Douala Mass expected to draw about 600,000, reflecting Africa’s fast-growing Catholic community of roughly 288 million.