Pope Leo xiv paid Algeria its first-ever visit by the head of the Vatican yesterday. He is commencing a 10-day, 18-flight visit to West Africa, which will also include Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.

• Africa is one of Catholicism’s fastest-growing regions. In 2023, Africans accounted for a majority of the 16 million people who were baptized into the Roman Catholic Church.

The pope proclaimed himself a “pilgrim of peace” and sympathized with Africa’s grievances against colonialism in past generations.

• He encouraged African countries to speak out “in the face of continuous violations of international law and neocolonial tendencies,” words generally believed to be directed at United States President Donald Trump, though they would more accurately apply to China or Russia.

Gerald Flurry wrote in “Watch Algeria!” in 2013, “North Africa is turning into a battleground with enormously important prophetic implications.” Algeria supplies large amounts of natural gas and provides a foothold for Europe to project power into Northern Africa. As Deutsche Welle reported:

The countries on Leo’s itinerary are among the world’s major producers of oil and minerals, including gold and diamonds. Yet large segments of their populations live in poverty.

Algeria has around 9,000 Catholics and 45 million Muslims, so the visit is largely designed to show respect toward Islam and to find ways to work with more moderate Muslims to resist radical Islamic terrorism and ultimately bring the nation into Europe’s alliance system.

• The pope visited the Great Mosque in Algiers yesterday, removed his shoes when entering, and stated: “[W]e can learn to respect one another, live in harmony, and build a world of peace.”
• He also spoke out against Islamist fundamentalism.

Augustine of Hippo, a foundational thinker of the Catholic Church, came from Algeria. Pope Leo is an Augustinian and has said that, for this reason, the trip holds great personal significance for him.

The visit reaffirms the Catholic Church’s interest in Africa as a geopolitical priority. For more information, read “Watch Algeria!”