The new Pope on his first African tour

Pope Leo XIV departed from Rome today, Monday, April 13, 2026, to begin his first major international tour of his pontificate, heading for the African continent. During this eleven-day tour, His Holiness is scheduled to visit four countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea, marking the first time a Pope has visited Algeria in history.

Eighteen flights, including two helicopter trips, have been planned for this journey, covering a distance of nearly 18,000 kilometers and spanning eleven cities.

Father Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago, USA, on September 14, 1955, was elected Pope on May 8, 2025, becoming the first American-born Pope and the first Pope from the Augustinian order. Having served as a missionary in Peru for a long time, he is known as a moderate administrator with extensive experience in the Global South, migration issues, and interreligious relations. In particular, visiting the archaeological site of Hippo in present-day Algeria, the birthplace of Saint Augustine, will be a very sensitive and personally significant experience for Pope Leo XIV, who comes from an Augustinian background.

Catholicism is rapidly expanding in Africa, where over 20% of the world's total Catholic population, approximately 288 million people, reside. This tour will underscore Africa's significant importance within the global Church. The main themes of this journey include peace, interreligious dialogue (especially Christian and Muslim coexistence), migration, environment, youth and family life, human development, corruption, resource exploitation, and post-colonial reconciliation. As stated by Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni, during this eleven-day tour across four countries, speeches will be delivered in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, with peace, migration, environment, youth, and family being the primary focus.

Without any special security arrangements, this tour, conducted in the manner of an ordinary pilgrim, has a schedule that includes 26 official engagements, comprising 11 speeches, 8 Masses, and 7 greetings. Following his arrival in Algiers on April 13, the visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers will be a powerful symbol for interreligious harmony, and the peace meeting held in Bamenda, Cameroon, on April 16, will bring great solace to people living amidst conflict. Subsequently, on April 18, the Pope will arrive in Angola and participate in a Mass at the historic Muxima Shrine. Finally, after visiting Equatorial Guinea and focusing on topics such as corruption, good governance, and education, he is scheduled to depart for Rome after celebrating Mass at the Malabo Stadium on April 23.