{"id":2000103409,"date":"2026-02-26T12:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000103409"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:47:48","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T10:47:48","slug":"pope-leo-to-tour-four-african-countries-in-first-official-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/pope-leo-to-tour-four-african-countries-in-first-official-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo to tour four African countries in first official visit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The tour will follow a one-day visit to Monaco on March 28 and a trip to Spain from June 6 to 12. During his African tour, Pope Leo is expected to draw large crowds, encourage world leaders to support development initiatives, and promote Catholic-Muslim dialogue, particularly in countries with diverse religious communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa is home to about 20% of the world\u2019s Catholics, making it one of the fastest-growing regions for the Church. The continent has seen significant increases in Catholic communities in recent decades, particularly in Central and Sub-Saharan Africa, where the Church continues to expand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPope Leo\u2019s visit will remind the world that Africa matters and the vibrancy of the Church in Africa remains at the heart of a thriving global Church,\u201d said Reverend Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, a Nigerian Jesuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip is historically significant, as it will be the first time a pope has visited Algeria, a predominantly Muslim nation. Pope Leo, a member of the Augustinian order, has expressed a special interest in the country, which is the birthplace of St. Augustine of Hippo, a key figure in early Christianity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cameroon, the Pope will visit Yaound\u00e9, Douala, and Bamenda, including regions affected by long-standing conflict. Angola\u2019s stops will include Luanda, Muxima, and Saurimo, while Equatorial Guinea will see visits to Malabo, Mongomo, and Bata, the continent\u2019s only Spanish-speaking nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this will be Pope Leo\u2019s first official visit to Africa as pope, he is no stranger to the continent, having traveled to countries like Kenya and Tanzania as Cardinal Robert Prevost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo\u2019s African tour follows his first foreign visit to Turkey and Lebanon late last year and sets the stage for other planned trips, including a likely visit to Peru later in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pope Leo XIV will make his first official visit to Africa from April 13 to 23, travelling to Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo XIV will make his first official visit to Africa from April 13 to 23, travelling to Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon, the Vatican announced on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000103413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[151,69,101],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000103409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","tag-internationl","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000103413,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cd035510-1274-11f1-a881-21e035cd6577.jpg.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1024,"height":577,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cd035510-1274-11f1-a881-21e035cd6577.jpg.jpg","width":150,"height":85},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cd035510-1274-11f1-a881-21e035cd6577.jpg.jpg","width":300,"height":169},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cd035510-1274-11f1-a881-21e035cd6577.jpg.jpg","width":768,"height":433},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cd035510-1274-11f1-a881-21e035cd6577.jpg.jpg","width":1024,"height":577},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cd035510-1274-11f1-a881-21e035cd6577.jpg.jpg","width":1024,"height":577}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000103409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000103409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000103409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000103415,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000103409\/revisions\/2000103415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000103413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000103409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000103409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000103409"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000103409"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000103409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}