Pope Leo set for historic visit to African countries
Pope Leo's visit to four African countries will last 11 days, starting on Monday.
The global head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, is heading to Africa on his first major international trip since becoming pontiff last year.
The 11-day tour, covering more than 18,000 kilometres, will take Pope Leo to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.
The pope’s first destination is Algeria, where he will visit from 13 to 15 April.
The trip is historic, as Leo will be the first pope to visit the North African country, where Islam is the state religion. He will visit the Great Mosque of Algiers and meet with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Leo, who became pope in May 2025 following the death of his predecessor Pope Francis, will meet members of the Augustinian order, to which the pontiff belongs, in Annaba, the former home of Saint Augustine.
Cameroon conflict
"Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places from the life of Saint Augustine," Pope Leo said in December, while announcing the planned Africa tour.
From Algeria, he will fly to Cameroon, where he will stay from 15 to 18 April. A call for peace and reconciliation is on his agenda in Cameroon, a Christian-majority country.
The Catholic Church has played a mediating role in Cameroon’s conflict, where the English-speaking northwest has been devastated by nearly a decade of separatist violence.
The 70-year-old pontiff is expected to address the issue in a speech during a mass in Bamenda, the epicentre of the conflict.
The pontiff is also due to meet with President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state at the age of 93, in the capital Yaounde.
Exploitation of African resources
During the Africa tour, Pope Leo is expected to speak out against the exploitation of African resources by foreign powers and call for more equitable distribution locally to alleviate poverty.
This is expected to be top of his agenda in Angola, where he will be visiting from 18 to 21 April.
The country is one of Africa’s top oil producers and is rich in other minerals. His presence is eagerly awaited by Angolan Catholics, who make up around 44% of the population.
He will meet with President João Lourenço and also visit a centuries-old church on a former slave-trafficking route in the village of Muxima. Pope Leo’s last port of call will be Equatorial Guinea from 21 to 23 April.
He is expected to speak on social and economic issues in the oil-rich country, where at least 70% of the population is Catholic, and will meet with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979.
The Africa tour will be Pope Leo's third trip outside Italy as he leads the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.
Late last year, he visited Türkiye and Lebanon in his first foreign trip and earlier this year travelled to Monaco.