VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV’s 10-day trip to Africa comes at a moment of deep global fracture — from wars in the Middle East to rising geopolitical tensions — offering him a new stage to present his message of unity, interreligious dialogue and economic justice far beyond the continent.

Leo’s papal visit, the longest he has taken since his election almost a year ago, began in the context of rapid-fire criticism from President Donald Trump. In a post on Truth Social on Monday (April 13), Trump wrote that the pope is “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

Leo responded, saying he has “no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly the message of the Gospel,” while answering questions from reporters on Monday aboard the papal flight to the first leg of his trip in Algeria.

The trip traces a line from Africa’s colonial past to its present struggles, confronting both the legacy of slavery, in which the church itself was at times complicit, and the modern dynamics of economic exploitation that continue to shape the continent. Against a backdrop of rising global tensions, where political leaders increasingly invoke religion to justify war, scholars believe Leo will share a message that rejects an “us versus them” worldview and calls for unity through dialogue.

“I find this trip could not have come at a better time,” said the Rev. Emmanuel Katongole, professor of theology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. “I feel that if there is a place where you can highlight the modern challenges of our time, Africa provides a very, very good platform” because the “people really refuse to separate the Gospel from this struggle for everyday realities of peace, of justice, and of reconciliation.”

In Algeria, Christians are a minority, representing less than 1% of the population. There are fewer than 20,000 Catholics in the country, mostly expatriates from sub-Saharan Africa, who navigate evangelizing in a place where attempting to convert Muslims is illegal.

Christians and Muslims in Algeria are still working through the legacy of the civil war that tore the country apart in the 1990s. Leo is expected to pay homage to 19 Catholics who were killed during that time and considered martyrs by the church, including seven Trappist monks. Pope Francis beatified them in 2018, paving the way for their recognition as saints.

The Catholic Church in the country operates in dialogue with the Algerian government, seeking paths for collaboration and peaceful coexistence. Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco is the head of its small Catholic community, having moved there shortly after the civil war, and is the archbishop of its capital, Algiers. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2024, and since then he has been an advocate for peace and interreligious dialogue in the country.

Vesco, a passionate runner, competed in the Rome marathon on March 23, alongside his “hero” and friend, Khaled Boudaoui, an Algerian Muslim battling cancer. “It’s easy to talk about fraternity,” Vesco said, but “the road in Algeria is that of friendship,” and “that’s why this year I decided to run this marathon hand in hand with him.”

PER UNA SANTA PASQUA DI PACE!

Lo sport è “Vita in abbondanza”
Papa Leone XIV

Nella foto: il cardinale Jean-Paul Vesco e lo scrittore musulmano Khaled Boudaoui (al termine della Maratona di Roma, 22 marzo)#Pasqua #SantaPasqua pic.twitter.com/n4nYDQU1Yz

— Athletica Vaticana (@AthVaticana) April 4, 2026

The martyred monks maintained close ties with local Muslim leaders and chose to stay in the country despite growing violence. They saw their mission as being close to the people instead of converting Muslims to Christianity, and many Muslims in Algeria still honor them today.

“They were masters in dialogue,” said the Rev. Giulio Albanese, a member of the council advising the pope on foreign relations at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. “In light of what is happening today on the international stage — particularly the crisis in the Middle East, which is increasingly taking on the dimensions of a global crisis — our martyrs invite us, above all, to adopt an attitude of dialogue toward every form of otherness. That is something today’s politicians — and I would even say today’s military leaders — often fail to do. The recourse to armed force speaks volumes about how much suffering humanity is being sacrificed on the altar of human selfishness,” he added, speaking in Rome.

On Monday, the pope visited the Great Mosque of Algiers, which is among the biggest in the world and capable of welcoming 12,000 faithful.

Leo’s visit to Algeria is also a chance for him to pay homage to Saint Augustine, the patron of the Augustinian religious order that he belongs to, who was bishop of Hippo, the modern-day city of Annaba. Leo will visit the ruins of the ancient city on the second day of his trip.

“I think he’s seeking inspiration from Augustine to remain firm, to remain clear-headed to the call of the Gospel for such a time as this,” Katongole said, adding that this is especially relevant because of the conflicts in the Middle East and Iran.

“There is an attempt within the geopolitical configurations of dominance to claim an us against them, to begin to see the whole of Islam, the other, as the enemy,” he said, adding that “Pope Leo has stood very, very firmly against that.”

The pope will also visit Cameroon, a country that is actively engaged in a conflict between the Francophone majority and an Anglophone minority, which has caused thousands of deaths and displaced over 700,000 people. The violence escalated in 2016, leading to a government crackdown and the Anglophone rebels declaring the independent state of Ambazonia in 2017. The factions agreed to a ceasefire during the three-day length of the papal visit.

On April 16, the pope will visit the city of Bamenda — an epicenter of the conflict — where he will take part in a peace meeting at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. It will be a chance for the pope to show that no conflict is too big or too small to attempt to find peace in a country where the church is seen as a credible mediator.

“I think he’s making a very political statement,” Katongole said, showing the people “that we are with you in your struggle for civil and political transition, the tentative efforts of peace, of democracy.”

The next stop of Leo’s visit will be Angola, a country still coping with the legacy of Portuguese colonialism while facing today’s challenges of foreign exploitation of its rich oil reserves. On April 19, Leo will pray the rosary in front of the Marian shrine of Mama Muxima, a site where slaves would be blessed and baptized en mass by the Catholic Church before being shipped out to be enslaved in the New World.

Leo is expected to address the church’s own responsibility and legacy in the African continent. The pope chose his name to honor the 19^th century Pope Leo XIII, who authored the 1891 encyclical “Rerum Novarum” (“On New Things”) and laid the groundwork of Catholic social justice efforts. The trip will likely provide the opportunity for him to reflect on modern inequalities.

Lastly, in Equatorial Guinea, Leo will meet with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has remained in power since seizing control in a 1979 coup against his uncle. International watchdog agencies have criticized the human rights violations and lack of free elections in the country.

While some at the Vatican have questioned Leo’s decision to visit the country, fearing that it might legitimize its government, Katongole argued that “he’s providing a critique on the kind of forms of leadership and governance in Africa that are self-serving.”

According to the Uganda-born priest, “these are very, very politically calculated moves” by Leo to offer an alternative to violence in achieving peace that is rooted in dialogue. “I think the leaders should actually be wary and afraid of having him because the whole spotlight is going to be on them,” he added.

In Africa, Leo will meet a church that is growing and youthful and, unlike the Global North, does not think along the polarizing terms of left, right, conservative or progressive, Katongole said. “Africa is a laboratory of peace,” Katongole said — a place, he added, where the pope’s message of unity is being tested against the realities of conflict, inequality and exploitation.