Pope Leo XIV’s first visit to Algeria, a Muslim-majority nation, is hailed as a historic event for interfaith dialogue and peace.
ALGIERS: The Archbishop of Algiers has hailed Pope Leo XIV’s upcoming visit to Algeria as a dream fulfilled.
The April trip will be the first by a head of the Catholic Church to the North African Muslim-majority nation.
“This dream of a pope visiting Algeria… has come true!” said Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco in a statement.
The Franco-Algerian cardinal added the pontiff would see “the Algeria of today, a meeting point between north and south, east and west”.
The visit, announced by the Vatican, carries great symbolic and spiritual significance according to local media.
French-language El Watan called it “of great historical significance in a country where ancient Christian memory coexists with the Muslim reality of today”.
Pope Leo will visit the capital Algiers and the city of Annaba from April 13 to 15.
The trip honours fifth-century Saint Augustine, who was born in modern-day Algeria and whose order the pope follows.
The 70-year-old pontiff said it would allow him to “continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds”.
The Algerian presidency said the visit reflects a “shared belief in the need to build a world based on peace, dialogue, and justice”.
Following Algeria, Pope Leo will visit Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.
