Pope Leo XIV begins 11-day Africa tour in Algeria, skipping Nigeria and DRC

A first for the papacy in Africa

Pope Leo XIV kicks off an 11-day tour of Africa today, visiting four countries in what is his first major overseas trip of 2026 and only his second foreign visit since becoming pope in May 2025. The itinerary covers Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea, with 11 cities and 18 flights across nearly 18,000 kilometres.

Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official and close adviser to the Pope, said the visit is meant to “turn the world’s attention to Africa.” He added: “By heading to Africa so early in his pontificate, the Pope shows that Africa matters. Leo wants to make sure that Africa is not forgotten by countries and people caught up in their own concerns.”

Why these four countries

Three of the four countries on the itinerary have Catholic majorities. Equatorial Guinea, which hasn’t hosted a papal visit since 1982, is more than 70 percent Catholic. Cameroon and Angola also have substantial Catholic populations.

Then there’s Algeria, which is where this trip gets interesting. The country is overwhelmingly Muslim, with fewer than 10,000 Catholics among 48 million people. But Algeria holds deep significance for Pope Leo. It’s the birthplace of St Augustine, and Leo is the first pope from the Augustinian order, which follows St Augustine’s teachings on community and humility. This will be the first visit by any pope to Algeria.

The Pope will visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers, where a black Madonna statue stands with the inscription “pray for us and the Muslims.” He’ll also visit the Great Mosque of Algiers, making interfaith dialogue a central theme of this leg.

Conflict and reconciliation

In Cameroon, the backdrop is a civil conflict that most of the world has ignored. The anglophone crisis has killed at least 6,000 people and displaced over half a million since 2017, when tensions between English-speaking separatists and the francophone-dominated government turned violent. The Pope will hold a Mass for peace and justice at the airport in Bamenda, the epicentre of the conflict.

A 45-year-old displaced woman named Ernestine Afanwi, who fled Bamenda after her house and shop were destroyed, told the BBC: “If I was face-to-face with the Pope, I would tell him all my problems and ask him to anoint the land.” Whether a papal visit can move the needle on a nearly decade-long conflict is another question.

Angola and Equatorial Guinea bring their own histories of civil war and authoritarian rule. The Pope’s message of peace and reconciliation will resonate differently in each place.

What’s notably absent

Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, home to Africa’s largest Catholic populations, are not on the itinerary. Like Pope Francis before him, Leo is prioritising what the Vatican calls the “peripheries,” places that don’t usually get the global spotlight. It’s a deliberate choice, but one that will leave millions of African Catholics watching from home.

Sources: BBC News, Voice of Nigeria, NPR, Vatican News