From Hippo to Luanda’s 'Chinese' satellite city: Leo XIV's stops in Africa
The Holy See has released the detailed schedule of the pope's visit to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea from 13 to 23 April. In Bab El Oued (Algiers), he will visit the community of the two Augustinian martyrs killed in 1994. In Cameroon, he will pray for peace in Bamenda, the epicentre of a forgotten war. In Bata, Equatorial Guinea, he will pray at the memorial for the victims of the weapons depot blasts that killed more than a hundred people in 2021.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Holy See Press office today released the schedule of the apostolic visit that will take Leo XIV to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea from April 13 to 23.
The journey will echo the name of Saint Augustine, with the historic first visit by a sitting pope to Algeria, followed by three countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with major stops in places still hurting from wounds left open by forgotten conflicts of yesterday and today, but also filled with the hopes of the people who live on this great continent.
This will be Pope Leo XIV’s third trip outside of Italy, after his visit to Turkey and Lebanon in November 2025 and his one-day visit to the Principality of Monaco on 28 March.
The journey begins in Algiers on the morning of 13 April, with a visit to the Maqam Echahid Martyrs' Monument, the which commemorates the fallen of the Algerian War of Independence, erected in 1982 to mark the 20th anniversary of the country’s independence from France.
From there, Leo XIV will proceed to the Presidential Palace for a courtesy visit to President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, followed by a public meeting with the authorities.
In the afternoon, he will visit the Great Mosque of Algiers, followed by a private visit to the community of the Augustinian Missionary Sisters in the neighbourhood of Bab El Oued, home to Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso and Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín, two nuns killed in 1994 by the GIA Islamists and among the 19 Algerian martyrs beatified in Oran in 2018.
The first day will end with a meeting with the Algerian community at Notre Dame d'Afrique, the large basilica overlooking the sea consecrated in 1872 by Cardinal Charles Martial Lavigerie, as an ideal bridge with Notre Dame de la Garde in Marseille, on the French shore of the Mediterranean.
Tuesday, 14 April, will be the day of Pope Leo's homage to Saint Augustine, a central figure in the life and teaching of Robert Prevost. The pontiff will travel to Annaba, the ancient city of Hippo, which he had already visited when he was superior of the Augustinians.
Here, he will stop at the archaeological site of Hippo and at the nursing home of the Little Sisters of the Poor, before meeting privately with members of the Augustinian order. In the afternoon, he will lead the only public Mass to be held in Algeria at the Basilica of Saint Augustine.
Upon his return to Algiers on the morning of Wednesday, 15 April, he will leave for Cameroon, arriving in the afternoon. In Yaoundé, after a courtesy visit to Paul Biya, the 93-year-old president who has been in office for more than 40 years, the pontiff will meet with the authorities, civil society groups, and the diplomatic corps, before visiting the Ngul Zamba orphanage.
Thursday, 16 April, will also be an important day, when Leo XIV will travel to Bamenda, in the country’s Anglophone northwest, a region ravaged by one of the world's most forgotten conflicts. Here, he will hold a peace meeting and preside over a Mass at the international airport.
On Friday, 17 April, it will be the turn of Douala, Cameroon's economic capital, where Leo will preside over another Eucharistic celebration at the stadium, but will also visit the sick at Saint Paul Catholic Hospital and meet with the university community at the Catholic University of Central Africa.
On Saturday, 18 April, the pope will travel to Angola, the third country on this long journey. In Luanda, as per custom, he will meet with President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço, before delivering his address to the authorities and civil society groups.
In the Portuguese-speaking country, Sunday, 19 April, will be marked by Mass in Kilamba (the new, modern city built from scratch by a Chinese public investment company about 20 kilometres from the centre of the capital), and the rosary in the esplanade in front of the Marian shrine of Mama Muxima, built by the Portuguese in the 16th century and very dear to Angolan popular devotion.
On Monday, 20 April, also in Angola, Leo will travel to Saurimo, a city that is an important centre for diamond mining.
Finally, on Tuesday, 21 April, the pope will depart for Equatorial Guinea, landing in Malabo, until recently the country's capital, where he will meet with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, in power since 1982, before delivering his customary address to the country's civil authorities. Also in Malabo, in the afternoon, he will travel to the National University, where he will inaugurate a campus dedicated to him, before visiting the Jean Pierre Olié Psychiatric Hospital.
Wednesday, 22 April, will be particularly intense, when the pontiff, after celebrating Mass in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mongomo, will travel to Bata, the city devastated on 7 March 2021 by four horrific explosions in an army weapons depot, resulting in the deaths of 107 people and hundreds of injured.
Also in Bata, Leo XIV will visit the prison, a technical school dedicated to Pope Francis, and finally meet young people and families at the stadium. The last appointment in Equatorial Guinea will be on Thursday 23 April, a Mass in the Malabo stadium, before leaving for Rome.
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