This is the Basilica of Saint Augustine, which was built in 1907. Located at the top of this hill, it overlooks the historical ruins of the city of Hippo from the time of St. Augustine.
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass here and recalled the powerful conversion of St. Augustine, who went from worldly excess to radical holiness.
POPE LEO XIV
No matter how burdened we are by pain or sin, the Crucified carries all those burdens with us and for us. No matter how discouraged we are by our weaknesses, it is precisely there that the power of God is revealed—the One who raised Christ from the dead to give life to the world.
Although they are few in number, the pope reminded the Catholics of Algeria that they are like a grain of incense—small, yet spreading a great fragrance. He also highlighted the importance of their land.
POPE LEO XIV
Your history is marked by generous hospitality and perseverance in trial: it is here that the martyrs prayed, it is here that Saint Augustine loved his flock, seeking the truth with passion and serving Christ with ardent faith. Be heirs of this tradition, bearing witness, in fraternal charity, to the freedom of those who are born from above as a hope of salvation for the world.
In the apse of the Basilica is a reliquary of St. Augustine—it contains his right arm. It was brought to Annaba in 1842 and was a donation from the Italian city of Pavia, where the mortal remains of Pope Leo XIV’s spiritual father had been preserved since the 8th Century.
