By Courtney Mares, OSV News
ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV will travel to six countries over the next four months, including a 10-day tour of Africa and trips to Monaco and Spain, the Vatican announced Feb. 25.
The pope’s international travel plans include a day trip to the Catholic principality of Monaco on March 28, a long journey across the African continent April 13 to 23, and a weeklong visit to Spain June 6 to 12 with expected stops in Madrid, the Canary Islands and in Barcelona to inaugurate the tallest tower in the Sagrada Familia.
In the first visit to the African continent since the start of his pontificate, Pope Leo will travel to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. The Vatican has highlighted that peace and care for the poor will be central themes of the African journey, which will also bring him in the footsteps of St. Augustine.
Algeria: St. Augustine and Interfaith Dialogue
The pope’s apostolic journey to Africa will begin in Algeria, with stops in the capital Algiers and the northeastern city of Annaba from April 13 to 15. Pope Leo previously expressed to journalists his desire to visit the country to see the places associated with St. Augustine and to “continue the conversation of dialogue, of building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world.”
Annaba is home to the Basilica of St. Augustine, built near the ruins of the Basilica Pacis where the theologian died in A.D. 430 as Vandals besieged the city. A statue in the basilica contains a relic of one of Augustine’s arm bones.
Algeria is 99% Sunni Muslim, and the Catholic Church counts just 8,740 members, about 0.019% of the population, out of more than 45 million people, according to the 2025 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican’s annual yearbook.
Cameroon: A Visit to a Conflict Zone
From Algeria, the pope travels to Cameroon from April 15 to 18, visiting the capital Yaoundé, the northwestern city of Bamenda and Douala, the country’s largest city and economic hub. The Bamenda stop brings Pope Leo directly into Cameroon’s Anglophone northwest, where a separatist conflict has been ongoing for nearly a decade.
The crisis began in 2017 when the government cracked down on strikes by English-speaking teachers and lawyers, triggering an armed insurgency that has since claimed thousands of lives and displaced hundreds of thousands more. Security concerns had cast doubt on whether the papal visit would be feasible.
Christianity is the predominant faith in Cameroon, practiced by more than 60% of the population, with more than 7.9 million Catholics in the country, making up 27.9% of the population, according to the Vatican’s latest statistics. Muslims account for approximately 30% of the population.
Angola: More than 17.9 million Catholics
The pope will then travel to Angola from April 18 to 21, visiting Luanda, Muxima and Saurimo. Catholicism is the largest religious group in the country, which is home to more than 17.9 million Catholics, according to Vatican statistics, about 49% of the population.
Angola, despite its considerable oil wealth, continues to struggle with high poverty rates and deep economic inequality. Pope Benedict XVI was the last pope to visit Angola in 2009 following St. John Paul II’s 1992 trip to mark the 500th anniversary of its evangelization.
Equatorial Guinea: A Spanish-speaking African country
The final leg of the African journey brings Pope Leo to Equatorial Guinea from April 21 to 23, with stops in Malabo, Mongomo and Bata. About 81.58% of the country’s 1.37 million population is Catholic, according to the Vatican, making it one of the most Catholic nations in sub-Saharan Africa by percentage and the only Spanish-speaking country on the continent. It will be only the second papal visit in Equatorial Guinea’s history; the first was St. John Paul’s trip on Feb. 18, 1982.
In total, the apostolic journey to Africa will span 10 days, nearly as long as St. John Paul’s 11-day, seven country African trip in 1985.
Monaco: A Brief but Historic Visit
Before his African journey, Pope Leo will make a day trip to Monaco, the city-state nestled along the French Riviera, on March 28. His visit to Monaco, the second-smallest country in the world after Vatican City, will be his first international trip of 2026 and only the second of his pontificate. It will be the first papal visit to Monaco in the modern era.
The trip follows an invitation from Prince Albert II, who met with the pope at the Vatican in January and had previously invited Pope Francis. Roman Catholicism is the official state religion of Monaco, where roughly 82% of the population is Catholic, according to the Vatican.
Spain: Sagrada Família and the Canary Islands
Pope Leo’s international travel plans also include a weeklong visit to Spain from June 6 to 12 with expected stops in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
A highlight of the Barcelona visit will be the inauguration of the newest and tallest tower of the Sagrada Família.The visit falls during the centenary of Venerable Antoni Gaudí’s death; the architect was declared venerable last year, one step away from his possible beatification.
The Canary Islands, with expected stops in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, will likely draw attention to the issue of migration. The Atlantic archipelago, situated off the northwest coast of Africa, is one of Europe’s main entry points for migrants crossing from Africa, with tens of thousands of arrivals each year. The late Pope Francis had long hoped to visit the islands himself.
In addition to his international travel, the Vatican has previously announced that Pope Leo will make six trips within Italy this year, including visits to the shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, the tomb of St. Augustine in northern Italy and the island of Lampedusa on July 4.
Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney. Junno Arocho Esteves, international correspondent for OSV News, contributed to this report.
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