Leader of Catholic Church to Visit This Muslim Country in Africa
Leo XIV will become the first pope to visit Algeria on April 13, taking a message of dialogue with Islam on a trip that also represents a personal pilgrimage for the American pontiff.
Algeria is the first stop on an 11-day tour of four African nations, covering 18,000 kilometers and also taking in Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea from April 13 to 23.
No other pontiff has visited Algeria, a North African country where Islam is the state religion, and the 70-year-old's arrival is being eagerly awaited by the Catholic minority.
The visit also holds a strong personal dimension for Pope Leo, as modern-day Algeria was home to Saint Augustine (354-430), a great Christian theologian whose spiritual legacy permeates his pontificate.
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As the world watches anxiously with war raging in the Middle East, peaceful coexistence will be at the heart of the pope's message in a country where 99 percent of its 47 million inhabitants are Muslim.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the pope's aim was to "address the Islamic world, but also to confront a common challenge of coexistence".
Source: thestar.com.my
