Pope Leo XIV on Monday arrived in Algeria for his second overseas trip.
According to his itenerarry, the Pontiff will also visit , Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
During his visit, the Pontiff seeks to address themes of peace, migration and interreligious dialogue.
Africa hosts more than a fifth of the world’s Catholics. Vatican’s latest survey shows a “remarkable increase” in the number of baptised Catholics on the continent.
However, the Pontiff has chosen to begin his tour of Africa by first landing in Algeria a non Catholic country.
The Vatican says that Algeria – as his first stop, holds deep significance for him.
Algeria is the birthplace of St Augustine, and Pope Leo XIV is the first pontiff from the order that follows his teachings.
Meanwhile, Algeria has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population. In the past, courts in the North African nations have imprisoned Christians and Ahmadi Muslims for what had been described as “unauthorised worship” or offence to Islam.
