ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV will travel a total of more than 11,000 miles on 18 flights across four African countries in April on a 10-day trip that highlights peace efforts, the works of mercy, and the Catholic Church’s vibrant presence on the continent.
The Vatican released the full schedule March 16 for Pope Leo’s first apostolic trip to Africa. The journey, April 13–23, will take the pope to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea with stops in 11 destinations.
During the trip, Pope Leo is scheduled to celebrate eight public Masses and deliver 11 speeches, while also meeting political leaders, Catholic communities, students, and missionaries.
The pope will visit prisoners and a psychiatric hospital in Equatorial Guinea, the Little Sisters of the Poor in Algeria, a nursing home in Angola and an orphanage in Cameroon.
— Two days in Algeria —
The trip begins April 13 in Algiers, where Pope Leo will meet civil authorities and visit the Great Mosque of Algiers, one of the largest mosques in the world, in a gesture aimed at strengthening Christian-Muslim dialogue.
Algeria is overwhelmingly Muslim and has only a small Catholic minority. The North African nation’s population is about 99% Sunni Muslim and home to roughly 8,740 Catholics, a tiny fraction of its population of more than 45 million.
The pope will also meet the local Catholic community at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa and visit a center run by Augustinian missionary sisters.
From there he will fly Annaba, near the ancient city of Hippo Regius where St. Augustine of Hippo served as bishop and died in A.D. 430 as Vandals besieged the city.
Pope Leo will celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. Augustine, which holds a relic of one of St. Augustine’s arm bones, and visit the nearby archaeological ruins of Hippo.
In Annaba, the pope will also visit a nursing home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor and hold a private meeting with members of the Augustinian order.
— Three Days in Cameroon —
The second leg of the trip will take Pope Leo to Cameroon from April 15–18, with visits to the cities of Yaoundé, Bamenda and Douala.
Pope Leo will visit an orphanage in the capital, Yaoundé, meet with local bishops, and travel to the northwestern city of Bamenda to preside over a peace meeting in a region affected by years of violence amid a long-running separatist conflict between government forces and armed groups in the country’s English-speaking regions.
The pope will pray for peace with the local community at St. Joseph’s Cathedral before celebrating an open-air Mass at Bamenda International Airport.
On April 17, Pope Leo will travel to Douala, where he will celebrate a stadium Mass and make a private visit to the St. Paul Catholic Hospital.
Later that day, the pope will return to Yaoundé, where he will meet with students and professors at the Catholic University of Central Africa.
On April 18, Pope Leo will celebrate a morning Mass at Yaoundé airport before departing for Angola.
— Three days in Angola —
From Cameroon, Pope Leo will travel to Angola, visiting the capital Luanda, as well as the pilgrimage site of Our Lady of Muxima Shrine and the northeastern city of Saurimo.
At Muxima, one of the country’s most important Catholic shrines, Pope Leo will lead a public rosary with pilgrims.
Pope Leo will also travel to the northeastern town of Saurimo, where he will celebrate an outdoor Mass and visit a nursing home.
In the capital, Luanda, the pope will meet members of the local Catholic community at the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima.
Angola is one of Africa’s most Catholic countries. The country is home to more than 17.9 million Catholics with nearly half the population identifying as Catholic.
— Two days in Equatorial Guinea —
The journey will conclude in Equatorial Guinea, which has a population of about 1.37 million people. About 81.6% of the population is Catholic, making it one of the most Catholic countries in sub-Saharan Africa by percentage.
The trip will mark only the second papal visit to the country. The first was by St. John Paul II in February 1982.
During his visit, Pope Leo will stop at a psychiatric hospital in Malabo, visit a prison in Bata, and pray at a memorial to victims of a 2021 military base explosion that killed more than 100 people.
In Mongomo, Pope Leo will visit the Pope Francis Technology School and celebrate Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.
The pope will conclude the trip with a final stadium Mass in Malabo on April 23 before flying back to Rome on a roughly six-hour flight covering about 2,852 miles.
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