Pope Leo XIV will undertake his first major international journey of 2026 from April 13 to 23, travelling to Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.
A key highlight of the trip will be a historic first-ever papal visit to Muslim-majority Algeria. During the visit, the Pope is scheduled to stop in Algiers and Annaba, home to the ancient city of Hippo, where Saint Augustine of Hippo lived and carried out his ministry.
The Algeria leg is expected to hold particular personal meaning for Leo, who belongs to the Augustinian order. The visit is aimed at strengthening Catholic-Muslim relations in the North African country, where Catholics number only a few thousand among a population of about 47 million.
Africa’s Growing Catholic Population
Africa is home to roughly 20 percent of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, making it the fastest-growing region for the Church globally.
According to Reverend Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, a Nigerian Jesuit priest, the papal tour underscores the continent’s importance to global Catholicism and highlights the vitality of the Church in Africa.
Before the African trip, Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to visit Monaco on March 28 and Spain from June 6 to 12, with plans to include the Canary Islands migration route in his itinerary.
The upcoming visits follow his November–December 2025 apostolic journey to Turkey and Lebanon.
