Nigeria excluded as Pope Leo embarks on 10-day visit to 4 African countries

Pope Leo is set to begin a major African tour on Monday, April 13, visiting four countries in what will be his first major overseas trip of 2026 — with Nigeria notably absent from the itinerary.

The 10-day visit, scheduled from April 13 to April 23, will take the pontiff across nearly 18,000 kilometres, covering 11 cities and towns in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. The packed schedule includes 18 flights and multiple official engagements.

A senior Vatican official and close adviser to Leo, Cardinal Michael Czerny, said the pope is making the visit with a mission “to help turn the world’s attention to Africa”.

Czerny told Reuters: “By heading to Africa so ​early in his pontificate, the pope shows that Africa matters.

“Leo wants to make sure that Africa is not forgotten by countries and people caught ​up in their own concerns.”

The tour comes amid Pope Leo’s increasingly vocal stance on global matters, including his recent criticism of the Iran war.

Since his election last May, the pontiff has made only one major overseas trip — to Turkey and Lebanon between November and December — and a shorter visit to Monaco in March.

Vatican officials say the upcoming visit reflects the pope’s personal commitment to Africa, where Catholicism is expanding rapidly. The continent is now home to more than 20 percent of the world’s Catholics, according to Vatican statistics.

Three of the countries on the pope’s itinerary have majority Catholic populations, with Equatorial Guinea having over 70 per cent of its citizens identifying as Catholic.

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By contrast, Algeria remains overwhelmingly Muslim, with fewer than 10,000 Catholics among its roughly 48 million residents.

Popes have dedicated attention to Africa with tours since the late 1960s, and Pope Leo’s upcoming tour will mark the 24th visit by a leader of the Catholic Church to the continent.

During the tour, Pope Leo is expected to deliver about 25 speeches, meet political leaders, and engage with local Catholic communities.

In Algeria, he will promote Catholic-Muslim dialogue and is scheduled to visit the Great Mosque of Algiers — only his second visit to a mosque since becoming pope.

The pontiff will also travel to Annaba to see the ruins of the ancient city of Hippo, a site closely linked to Augustine of Hippo, whose teachings inspire the Augustinian order to which Pope Leo belongs.

In Cameroon, the pope is expected to host a “meeting for peace” in Bamenda, located in the country’s conflict-affected Anglophone region, where clashes between government forces and separatists have claimed thousands of lives since 2017.