Pope Leo XIV announces 10-day Africa trip in April, along with visits to Monaco and Spain
The pontiff will visit Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea from April 13-23, marking his first papal trip to the continent where Catholic growth outpaces the rest of the world.
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The Vatican announced Wednesday that Pope Leo XIV will undertake a 10-day trip to Africa in April, visiting Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea from April 13 to 23. The journey represents the pontiff's first papal visit to the continent.
In Algeria, the pope will travel to Algiers and Annaba from April 13 to 15. He will then visit Yaoundé, Bamenda and Douala in Cameroon from April 15 to 18, followed by stops in Luanda, Muxima and Saurimo in Angola from April 18 to 21. The itinerary concludes with a visit to Equatorial Guinea on April 21 to 23.
The Vatican's most recent statistics, published in October, show that the number of Catholics worldwide increased by more than 15 million from mid-2022 to mid-2023, with more than half of that growth occurring in Africa. Africa produces more trainee priests than any other continent, though Africans remain underrepresented in the church's senior leadership. Approximately one-fifth of Africa's population identifies as Catholic.
The Africa trip is part of a broader travel schedule announced by the Vatican. Pope Leo XIV will visit the Principality of Monaco on March 28, marking the first papal visit to the city-state in the modern era. The pontiff accepted an invitation from Prince Albert and Archbishop Dominique-Marie David. Monaco remains a Catholic monarchy, and its archdiocese is directly subject to the Holy See.
From June 6 to 12, Pope Leo XIV will travel to Spain. The itinerary includes Madrid and Barcelona, where he will inaugurate the new Tower of Jesus at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia. The visit coincides with the centenary of the death of Antoni GaudÃ, the Catalan architect who designed the basilica. Gaudà was declared venerable by the Vatican in 2025, the first step toward sainthood. The 172.5-meter tower was installed on February 20, with scaffolding scheduled to be removed progressively by June 10, when the papal blessing is planned. The Spanish itinerary also includes the Canary Islands.
The Vatican also announced six pastoral visits within Italy scheduled between May and August. Pope Leo XIV, 70, was elected in May 2025 as the first pope born in the United States. His travel schedule had been limited during the 2025 Jubilee Year, when he attended to approximately 33 million pilgrims at the Vatican. With the Holy Year concluded, the pontiff has expanded his international travel agenda.
The Africa visit follows the pattern established by Pope Leo XIV's tenure leading the Augustinian order between 2001 and 2013, during which he visited approximately 50 countries. The Vatican has stated that detailed programs for each trip will be announced at a later date.