Pope Leo’s first major tour abroad to four African countries in April will see the US pontiff broach an array of themes, from interfaith dialogue to calls to fight corruption and inequality.
The trip, which includes seven masses and 11 speeches, takes Leo XIV to Algeria beginning 13 April, followed by Cameroon on 15 April, Angola on 18 April and wrapping up in Equatorial Guinea, where he will spend two days after his arrival on 21 April, according to his programme published Monday by the Vatican.
Leo will become the first pope to visit Algeria, where Islam is the state religion. The head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics will be received by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune before celebrating a mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers. He will preside over another mass in the eastern city of Annaba, the land of Saint Augustine, who laid the foundations for the Augustinian Order to which the pope belongs.
The pope does not plan to visit Tibhirine, south of Algiers, although the visit comes just days after the 30th anniversary of the murder of seven Catholic monks abducted in 1996 during Algeria’s civil war.
Heading south to Cameroon, a multi-faith but Christian-majority country, Leo will meet President Paul Biya and visit an orphanage in Yaounde, before travelling to Doula, where he will celebrate mass at the stadium.
The most symbolic leg takes place 16 April, where the pope travels under heavy security to Bamenda in the English-speaking northwest to issue a call for peace. Bamenda is the epicentre of the armed conflict that has pitted government forces against separatist groups for nearly a decade.
The visit to Angola, a former Portuguese colony that gained its independence in 1975, is expected to highlight social themes important to the Chicago-born pope, including conflict related to scarce resources like oil and minerals, the fight against corruption and inequality.
AFP
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