Cameroon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Algeria are the African countries Pope Leo XIV will visit from April 13-23 this year.
What are the primary motivations for the pope to visit these different African nations? The reasons for each vary.
The visit to Algeria will be the first time a pope has visited the country. During the return flight from his first trip, Pope Leo XIV shared his desire to see the country where St. Augustine once lived.
Born in the northeastern part of present-day Algeria, St. Augustine served as bishop of Hippo, known today as Annaba, which the pope plans to visit.
Pope Leo plans to visit Cameroon, meanwhile, to make a personal appeal for peace. The English-speaking regions of the country have been embroiled in conflict for the past 10 years.
Cameroon is home to a large and active Catholic population. Pope Benedict XVI was the last pontiff to visit, in 2009, during a trip that also included Angola.
And in Angola, Catholics make up about 58% of the population—a strong showing. Pope St. John Paul II visited in 1992 in the midst of the Angolan civil war, which lasted until 2002.
Finally, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea stands out for a unique reason: it is the only Spanish-speaking country on the African continent. And the Catholic Church there is one of the strongest in Africa: Catholics make up approximately 75% of the population.
More than four decades have passed since a pope last visited the African republic, which was Pope St John Paul II's trip in 1982.
Pope Leo XIV is the first pope among his predecessors to have a head start: unlike the others, he has already traveled to Eastern, Western, and Central Africa before his election in May 2025, when he was still Prior General of the Augustinians.
