Day one in Algeria: Pope Leo a missionary of peace

Pope Leo XIV has completed the first day of his Apostolic Journey in Africa, during which he will visit Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea, from 13 to 23 April.

He arrived in Algeria on Monday morning, happy to revisit the land of Saint Augustine, who, the Pope said during the flight from Rome, “offers a very important bridge in interreligious dialogue”.After arriving in Algiers, he visited the Martyrs’ Monument, “Maqam Echahid," which commemorates those who lost their lives in the Algerian War for Independence from 1954 to 1962. In the first public discourse of his trip, the Holy Father reminded those present that “the future belongs to men and women of peace”, and he stressed that “true freedom is not merely inherited; it is chosen anew every day”.