{"id":6670,"date":"2026-04-23T13:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T13:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/?p=6670"},"modified":"2026-05-01T13:21:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T13:21:45","slug":"what-pope-leos-africa-trip-was-all-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.maryknollsociety.org\/magazine\/what-pope-leos-africa-trip-was-all-about\/","title":{"rendered":"What Pope Leo\u2019s Africa Trip Was All About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Ines San Martin, OSV News<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(OSV News) \u2014 As Pope Leo XIV pushed back against what he has described as an inaccurate narrative surrounding his first trip to Africa, missionaries working across the continent say the journey reflects something far more fundamental than political debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has been a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all its aspects,\u201d the pope told journalists April 18, as he traveled between Cameroon and Angola, noting that much of the coverage had become \u201ccommentary on commentary.<\/a>\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the ground, however, those living the daily reality of the Church in Africa describe a visit centered on themes they know well: fraternity, peace, healing and hope. And all of it \u2014 rooted in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many ways, the trip is also the fulfillment of a longstanding personal desire. Days after his election in May 2025,<\/a> Pope Leo had already signaled his intention to travel to Africa<\/a> \u2014 beginning with Algeria, the land of St. Augustine of Hippo, whose thought and spirituality have shaped his own vocation as an Augustinian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also a continent he knows firsthand. Even as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru,<\/a> the future Pope Leo made repeated trips to Africa, particularly Nigeria, maintaining close ties with missionary communities and developing a pastoral vision shaped by those encounters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That background helps explain why, as he told reporters mid-flight, he sees the journey in simple terms: \u201cI primarily come to Africa as a pastor \u2026 to be with and to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany, all of the Catholics throughout Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small Church, a powerful witness\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Algeria, where Christians make up a tiny minority in a predominantly Muslim country, Spanish missionary Merc\u00e8 Gassiot said that presence \u2014 quiet, humble and relational \u2014 defines the Church\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur Church is poor, very small, but full of diversity,\u201d said Gassiot, who has lived in the country since 1969. \u201cFraternity is built day by day, by living together, working together, sharing both the difficulties and the joys of daily life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her, the pope\u2019s emphasis on dialogue and coexistence reflects what Catholics in Algeria already strive to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the Great Mosque of Algiers, Pope Leo underscored that vision, insisting that \u201cto seek God is also to recognize the image of God in every creature,\u201d and that this leads to learning \u201cto live together with respect for the dignity of every human person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He returned to the figure of St. Augustine as a bridge between past and present, telling journalists as he left the country that the saint\u2019s \u201cinvitation to search for God and for the truth is something that is very much needed today<\/a> \u2026 for all people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That same spirit was visible in Annaba, where Sister Carmen Mar\u00eda de Just\u00edn of the Little Sisters of the Poor welcomed the pope into a home for the elderly, where nearly all residents are Muslim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was wonderful \u2014 he was moved when he saw them,\u201d she said, describing how Pope Leo greeted the residents during his visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the sisters, who have long served in a Muslim-majority environment, the visit was both affirmation and encouragement. \u201cIt has been a great reward for our work \u2026 it has given us strength to continue,\u201d she told OSV News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The encounter also reflected the broader response of the local population. \u201cThe house was full \u2014 full of Muslims,\u201d she said, noting that neighbors helped prepare the space to receive the pope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The home even includes a small mosque for residents, \u201cso they can pray just as we do in our chapel,\u201d she said \u2014 a daily expression of the coexistence Pope Leo has emphasized <\/a>throughout the visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that the Lord, looking down from heaven upon a house like this, where people strive to live together in fraternity, would say, \u2018There is hope!’\u201d Pope Leo said in his short remarks at the \u201cMa Maison\u201d Care Home for the Elderly, where he spent more time greeting each person individually than speaking to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod\u2019s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father\u2019s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant or the proud. God\u2019s heart is with the little ones, with the humble,\u201d the pope said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For missionaries like Gassiot and Sister Carmen Mar\u00eda, that message of evangelization through friendship resonates deeply in a context where daily life unfolds almost entirely within a Muslim environment. And it\u2019s a life of faith that is cemented on the witness of martyrs, whom the pope honored as well during his visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Center of Welcome and Friendship run by the Augustinian Missionary Sisters in Algiers\u2019 Bab El Oued neighborhood, the pope met with religious sisters and learned about their ongoing outreach, including educational support, language classes and programs for women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the legacy of Sisters Caridad \u00c1lvarez Mart\u00edn and Esther Paniagua Alonso<\/a> \u2014 killed Oct. 23, 1994, on World Mission Sunday, while on their way to Mass \u2014 Pope Leo framed their deaths within a broader call to witness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerhaps what you do here goes much deeper to the heart of what Augustinian life \u2014 consecrated life in the Church \u2014 should be, in a world where martyrdom is truly needed, but martyrdom in the true sense of the word: witness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two sisters are among the 19 martyrs of Algeria beatified in 2018, recognized for remaining alongside the Algerian people despite escalating violence during the civil war that began in 1992.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That decision to stay was not automatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fundamental question was: What am I going to do personally \u2014 stay or leave temporarily?\u201d recalled Sister Mar\u00eda Jes\u00fas Rodr\u00edguez, then provincial superior of the Augustinian Missionary Sisters, who was in Algeria at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As threats mounted against foreigners and Christians, the country\u2019s bishops asked religious people to freely discern their path. \u201cBoth options were legitimate and very good,\u201d Sister Rodr\u00edguez said, noting the \u201ctriple\u201d risk they faced: \u201cfor being foreigners, for being Christians and simply for being there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace in a wounded land<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Cameroon<\/a>, the pope\u2019s message took on a more urgent tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bamenda, a region marked by a separatist conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and disrupted daily life for years, Sister Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 de la Plata said the pope\u2019s decision to come at all was significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is a sign of closeness \u2014 he is with the people,\u201d she said. \u201cHe is willing to take the risk to tell a people who have suffered for years that they are not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She described a reality in which insecurity has become routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have gotten used to \u2018ghost town\u2019 Mondays \u2014 no market, no school, no transport,\u201d she said, referring to weekly shutdowns imposed amid the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet even in that context, she told OSV News, the mission continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery day that we open the school or the center, despite the risks, we offer hope and the presence of God in this corner of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addressing the community, Pope Leo acknowledged the suffering while highlighting their resilience, calling the region a \u201cbloodstained yet fertile land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeace is not something we must invent,\u201d he said during the peace meeting on April 16. \u201cIt is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbor as our brother and as our sister.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For de la Plata, the visit itself carries a message: that the conflict has not been ignored, and that the Church remains present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healing wounds and restoring dignity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Angola<\/a>, missionaries say the pope\u2019s focus on healing and justice speaks directly to the country\u2019s past and present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a 27-year civil war that ended in 2002, many of the wounds remain \u2014 economic inequality, fragile infrastructure and communities still recovering from decades of violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sister Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 Valero, a member of the Daughters of Charity, described a mission that spans schools, health centers, prison ministry and pastoral outreach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mission here includes education, health care and accompanying people in all aspects of life,\u201d she said, pointing to the wide-ranging needs of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo echoed that reality in his address to civil authorities in Luanda April 18, warning against economic systems that reduce people to commodities and calling for a development model rooted in human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is necessary to break this cycle of interests, which reduces reality, and even life itself, to mere commodities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Marian shrine of Mama Muxima \u2014 a place of deep spiritual significance, but also tied to the history of the transatlantic slave trade \u2014 Pope Leo connected faith with concrete responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPraying the Rosary \u2026 commits us to loving every person \u2026 and to dedicating ourselves to the good of one another, especially the poorest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For missionaries on the ground, that connection between prayer and action reflects the daily work of the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faith lived from a distance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Equatorial Guinea, even though the welcome of those who could attend was tremendously enthusiastic, in remote areas far from the capital, many Catholics were not able to attend events or even follow them through local media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five decades of a tyrannical government of Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who seized power from his uncle in 1979, has left the country with limited infrastructure, including access to TV or streaming services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sister Concepci\u00f3n Gonz\u00e1lez, who works in a rural community, described the visit as something lived \u201cfrom a distance \u2014 a physical distance, and other kinds of distance as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people here will not even be able to see it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet the need for hope is no less urgent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf hope is the last thing to be lost, then perhaps it is most needed in the world of health, where many arrive too late,\u201d she said. \u201cChildren are happy, but sometimes you can see in their eyes a shadow \u2014 something that speaks of a different and better life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even so, she hopes the pope will carry their reality with him beyond the brief days of the visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would ask him to take with him a piece of what he sees here\u2026 and to present it to the Lord,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo said in eastern Mongomo, in the Basilica of Immaculate Conception, that the motto chosen for his visit: \u201cChrist, Light of Equatorial Guinea, Towards a Future of Hope,\u201d points to \u201cperhaps \u2026 the greatest hunger today\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is hunger for a future imbued with hope that is capable of engendering a new sense of justice and producing fruits of peace and fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the missionaries living in Africa, the pope\u2019s visit did not introduce a new agenda but reaffirmed that their pastor is with them, understands their struggles and empowers their hopes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured image: Pope Leo XIV amid faithful, on the day he led those gathered at the \u201cMama Muxima\u201d Shrine in praying the rosary during his apostolic journey in Africa, in Muxima, Angola, April 19, 2026. (OSV News photo\/Guglielmo Mangiapane, Reuters)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo concludes his apostolic journey to Africa with a message of justice and healing for the \u201cbloodstained yet fertile\u201d region. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":6671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_eb_data_table":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1053],"tags":[2721,2719,2383,2720,2386,2390,701],"class_list":["post-6670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-algeria","tag-algiers","tag-angola","tag-apostolic-journey-to-africa-2026","tag-cameroon","tag-equatorial-guinea","tag-pope-leo-xiv"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Pope Leo\u2019s Africa Trip Was All About - Maryknoll Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Pope Leo\u2019s Africa Trip Was All About - 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