{"id":43420,"date":"2026-02-26T23:43:52","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T23:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries"},"modified":"2026-02-26T23:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T23:47:09","slug":"pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo’s April Visit to Four African Countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ethiopia. <\/strong><\/span>Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the continent, the Vatican has announced.<\/p>\n

He will travel to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea.<\/p>\n

In Cameroon, the Pope will visit the capital Yaounde\u0301, the economic hub Douala, and the Anglophone city of Bamenda in the restive Northwest region, where an armed conflict has been raging for nearly 10 years.<\/p>\n

This is the first time that a pope will visit Algeria, whose population is mostly Muslim.<\/p>\n

In December, he expressed his desire to visit the continent, citing Algeria, the birthplace of St Augustine of Hippo, as a potential destination. The pontiff belongs to the Augustinian religious order and had previously called for interfaith dialogue in the North African country.<\/p>\n

While it will be the Pope\u2019s first pastoral visit to Africa since assuming the leadership of the Catholic Church, he is no stranger to the continent.<\/p>\n

As Cardinal Robert Prevost, he visited several countries including Kenya and Tanzania.<\/p>\n

His decision to travel to the continent highlights Africa\u2019s growing importance to the church \u2013 it is home to about 20% of the world\u2019s Catholics.<\/p>\n

In January, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa and President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar hinted at the Pope\u2019s plans to visit Africa in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Pope visits a country, especially countries in crisis like ours, it is also to give hope to the people, especially people who are suffering,\u201d the cardinal said in an interview with Vatican News after meeting the pontiff.<\/p>\n

The Pope\u2019s visit to Africa follows his first foreign trip to Turkey and Lebanon late last year, where he called for peace and reconciliation in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The last papal trip to Africa took place in February 2023, when Leo\u2019s predecessor, Pope Francis, visited the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.<\/p>\n

The official programme of the Pope\u2019s activities during his tour is yet to be released.<\/p>\n

However, Vatican News reports that the tour from April 13 to 23, will include stops in Algiers and Annaba in Algeria; Yaounde\u0301, Bamenda and Douala in Cameroon; Luanda, Muxima and Saurimo in Angola; and Malabo, Mongomo and Bata in Equatorial Guinea, the continent\u2019s only Spanish\u2010speaking nation.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Jean Otalor<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Ethiopia<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Ethiopia. Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the continent, the Vatican has announced. He will travel to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. In Cameroon, the Pope will visit the capital Yaounde\u0301, the economic hub Douala, and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":43419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[235],"class_list":["post-43420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-ethiopia"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries - Ethiopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the con ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the con ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ethiopia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T23:43:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T23:47:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"392\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Pope Leo’s April Visit to Four African Countries\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T23:43:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T23:47:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ethiopia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\",\"name\":\"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries - Ethiopia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T23:43:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T23:47:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the con ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg\",\"width\":696,\"height\":392,\"caption\":\"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Pope Leo’s April Visit to Four African Countries\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/\",\"name\":\"Ethiopia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries - Ethiopia","description":"Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the con ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries","og_description":"Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the con ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries","og_site_name":"Ethiopia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-02-26T23:43:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-26T23:47:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":392,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Pope Leo’s April Visit to Four African Countries","datePublished":"2026-02-26T23:43:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-26T23:47:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries"},"wordCount":405,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg","keywords":["ethiopia"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries","name":"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries - Ethiopia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-26T23:43:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-26T23:47:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Pope Leo XIV will begin a 10-day visit to four African countries on 13 April, marking his first pastoral trip to the con ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/02\/sm_1772149591.335273.jpg","width":696,"height":392,"caption":"Pope Leo's April Visit to Four African Countries"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/pope-leos-april-visit-to-four-african-countries#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Pope Leo’s April Visit to Four African Countries"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/","name":"Ethiopia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}