Pope Leo XIV is embarking on the first-ever papal trip to Algeria on Monday, aiming to promote Christian-Muslim coexistence at a time of global conflict and honour the locally born inspiration of his religious spirituality, St. Augustine.

Leo’s two-day stop in Algeria opens an intense 11-day tour of four African nations — Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea — that will bring history’s first U.S.-born pope deep into the growing heart of the Catholic Church.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was set to greet Leo upon his arrival at Algiers' international airport before they meet formally at the El Mouradia presidential palace.

Later Monday, Leo was to address Algerian authorities and visit the city’s Great Mosque. He was finishing the day with a gathering at the Our Lady of Africa basilica, and then prayers at a nearby monument for migrants killed in shipwrecks trying to reach Europe.

The gathering at the basilica, a Roman-Byzantine structure built in the late 1800s during France’s colonial rule, will feature testimony from a Catholic nun, a Pentecostal believer, and a Muslim, as well as remarks by the pope.

Messages of peace

The official motto of the Algeria trip is Leo’s opening line wherever he goes — “Peace be with you” — and the Vatican says a general message of peace and Christian-Muslim coexistence will be the major theme.

In Algeria, a tiny Catholic community of around 9,000 people made up mostly of foreigners exists alongside the Muslim majority of about 47 million, according to Vatican statistics.

The archbishop of Algiers, French Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, said on any given day, nine out of 10 people who visit the basilica are Muslim.

“It’s wonderful to be able to show that we can be brothers and sisters together, building a society despite our different religions,” Vesco told The Associated Press on the eve of Leo’s arrival. “And that is what our church has been doing since this country gained independence.”

Religious freedom

The Algerian constitution recognises “religions other than Islam” and allows individuals to practise their faith.

On his first day in Algeria, Leo will pay homage to 19 Christian martyrs and visit Augustinian nuns who run a social services project out of the Algiers basilica that helps people of all faiths.

All 19 were beatified in 2018 as martyrs for the faith in what was then the first such beatification ceremony in the Muslim world.

On Tuesday, Leo will visit the city of Annaba, the modern-day Hippo, where a famous Catholic saint, Augustine, was bishop for three decades.