Courtney Mares

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for more than 120,000 people in Cameroon’s largest city on April 17, urging “beloved children of the African continent” to share God’s love by feeding the hungry and offering the spiritual nourishment of “the bread of life.”

A religious sister in Cameroon who was kidnapped just a few months ago by separatists and held hostage for three days in the bush was among those who shared her testimony with Pope Leo XIV April 16 in an emotional peace meeting in Cameroon’s northwest city of Bamenda, a region marred by years of separatist violence.

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Cameroon on April 15, delivering a forceful appeal for peace to a nation scarred by years of separatist violence, telling the country’s leaders that “there is such a hunger and thirst for justice” as thousands lined the streets of the capital to welcome him.

Pope Leo XIV shared some of his favorite spiritual reading recommendations on the papal flight to Algeria, pointing to a particular letter by St. Augustine that he said provides wonderful tips for how to deepen prayer.

Pope Leo XIV honored the memory of Algeria’s Christian martyrs Monday evening, telling the country’s tiny Catholic community that the blood of those who died for their faith remains “a living seed that never ceases to bear fruit.”

Pope Leo XIV arrived in Algeria on the morning of April 13, becoming the first pope to make an apostolic journey to the North Africa nation, the first stop of the pope’s 11-day, four-country tour of Africa.

Pope Leo XIV will begin his first apostolic journey to Africa on April 13, traveling more than 11,000 miles over 11 days across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.