By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY, April 9 (Reuters) - Pope Leo leaves on Monday for a visit to four countries in Africa, in an ambitious tour to urge global leaders to address the needs of the continent where more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics live on his first major overseas trip of 2026.
Over 10 days from April 13-23, Leo will travel nearly 18,000 km (11,185 miles) to visit 11 cities and towns in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea as part of a whirlwind itinerary that includes 18 flights.
The pope is making the visit with a mission “to help turn the world’s attention to Africa”, Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official and close adviser to Leo, told Reuters.
“By heading to Africa so early in his pontificate, the pope shows that Africa matters,” Czerny said. “Leo wants to make sure that Africa is not forgotten by countries and people caught up in their own concerns.”
AFRICA TRIP A PERSONAL PRIORITY FOR LEO
Leo, who in recent weeks has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, has made only one big overseas trip since being elected last May, visiting Turkey and Lebanon in November and December. He visited Monaco in March.
Vatican officials and African Church leaders say the upcoming tour is a personal priority for Leo, the first U.S. pope, and a sign of the value the Church places on the continent, the place where Catholicism is growing fastest.
More than 20% of the world’s Catholics live on the continent, according to Vatican statistics. Three of the countries Leo is visiting have populations where more than half of the people identify as Catholic.
Equatorial Guinea, which has not been visited by a pope since 1982, is more than 70% Catholic. Algeria is an overwhelmingly Muslim country with under 10,000 Catholics among its population of some 48 million people.
Popes have dedicated attention to Africa with tours since the late 1960s. Leo’s will be the 24th by a leader of the 1.4-billion-member Church.
“The African Church is vibrant and alive, full of vocations to the religious life and priesthood,” said Rev. Mark Francis, a U.S. priest and friend of the pope since the 1970s.
POPE, RELATIVELY YOUNG AT 70, HAS FULL ITINERARY
Leo, who succeeded the late Pope Francis, is 70, relatively young for a pope and in good health.
He is planning to give 25 speeches over 10 days as well as holding official meetings with political leaders and local Catholics.
He is expected to encourage Catholic-Muslim dialogue in Algeria, and will visit the Great Mosque of Algiers in only his second visit to a mosque as pope.
He will also travel to Annaba, on the northeast coast, for a visit to the ruins of the ancient town of Hippo.
The site has special meaning to Leo, who is a member of the Augustinian religious order. The order is inspired by the teachings of fourth century St. Augustine of Hippo, a major figure in the early Christian Church.
In Cameroon, Leo will hold a “meeting for peace” in Bamenda, the largest city in the country’s Anglophone regions, where fighting between the government and separatist movements has killed thousands since 2017.
LEO TO SHOW AFRICA AS ‘PLACE OF HOPE’
Rev. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, a Jesuit from Nigeria who led his order’s communities across Africa from 2017-23, said the visit will show Africa “as a place of resilience and hope”.
“It will afford Pope Leo an opportunity to bring his message of hope, peace, and reconciliation to places … where political instability and religious intolerance have triggered conflicts and humanitarian crises,” he said.
On the penultimate day, Leo will visit the Guinean city of Bata and pray at the site of a series of explosions in 2021 at a military barracks that killed more than 100 people.
Djamila Cassoma, 39, a lawyer and entrepreneur in Angola, said she hoped the pope’s tour would raise world awareness about needs in Africa and spur action.
“The choice of Africa for this tour is not random,” she said. “Many of the major global challenges … are concentrated here, but it is also here that they can be re-imagined.”
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; additional reporting by Miguel Gomes in Luanda and Robbie Corey-Boulet in Dakar; Editing by Alison Williams)
