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Sunday, April 19, 2026
Image: Freddie Everett.
Pope Leo XIV arrived in Angola on Sunday, beginning the third stop of his apostolic visit to Africa. The eleven-day visit also includes stops in the nations of Algeria, Cameroon, and Equatorial Guinea.
The pope was met by the Angolan President Joao Lourenco among other officials upon arriving. He made an address near the capital of Luanda which emphasized social justice, peace, and ending poverty to the crowd gathered.
The stop was preceded by a visit to Cameroon, where a similar message was made to over 120,000 Cameroonians in the city of Douala. This leg of the visit also saw stops at Catholic hospitals and universities.
His first stop in Algeria marked the first papal visit to the country in history. The pope visited several locations including ancient Christian sites in Annaba and the Great Mosque of Algiers in the capital before departing.
After Angola, the pope will arrive in Equatorial Guinea for the final leg of the visit before returning to the Vatican. Catholics make up more than 70% of the central African nation.
The purpose of the pope’s visit is to “turn the world’s attention to Africa”, according to an official of the Vatican cited by the BBC. Similar statements made have emphasized regional peace and inter-faith dialogue as overarching goals.
The regions of the continent being visited are among the quickest growing in Catholicism in the world. There were an estimated 288 million Catholics in Africa in 2024, making up more than one-fifth of the world’s total.
The visit marked the Leo’s second major apostolic visit as pope after visiting Lebanon and Turkey earlier.
- Pope Leo tells Angola during huge Mass to ‘build hope’ — Aljazeera, April 19, 2026
- Pope Leo calls on Cameroon to reject violence as 120,000 join Mass — Aljazeera, April 17, 2026
- Diseko, Lebo; Njie, Paul; and Maseko, Nomsa. Pope prioritises world’s fastest-growing Catholic region in major Africa tour — BBC, April 14, 2026
