On the five-hour flight from Algiers to Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, Pope Leo, looking relaxed and in good spirits, spoke for about 10 minutes to the press corps about his visit to Algeria, which he described as “a very blessed trip.” He spoke in English and did not take any questions.
He expressed gratitude to the Algerian authorities “who made this visit possible” and noted that they had even given the plane “the full honor of an escort as we fly over Algerian airspace.” He called this “a sign of the goodness, of the generosity, of the respect that the Algerian people and the Algerian government have wished to show to the Holy See and to myself” and thanked them.
He also expressed his thanks to “the very small but very significant presence of the Catholic Church in Algeria.” He recalled his visits to the Basilica of Notre Dame d’Afrique on his first day here, and to the Basilica St. Augustine on the hill overlooking both the modern city of Annaba as well as the ruins of the Roman city of Hippo. He said the visit was “symbolically significant” because St. Augustine, who served as the bishop of Hippo for more than 30 years, is someone who “is very much from the past and speaks to us of tradition, speaks to us of the life the church as the church grew in the early centuries.”
Moreover, he said, St. Augustine “is still a very important figure today as his writings, his teaching, his spirituality, his invitation to search for God and to search for truth is something that is very much needed today, a message that is very real for all of us today as believers in Jesus Christ, but also for all people.”
He noted that “even the people of Algeria—the vast majority of whom are not Christian—very much honor and respect the memory of St. Augustine as one of the great sons of their land.” He said that is was “a special blessing for me personally to return once again to Annaba yesterday but also to offer to the church and the world a vision that St. Augustine offers us in terms of that search for God and the struggle to build community, to seek for unity among all peoples and respect for all peoples in spite of the differences.”
Leo said that his two day in Algeria were “a wonderful opportunity to, if you will, continue to build bridges, to promote dialogue.” He noted that his visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers, where he stood for a moment in silent prayer, “was significant, to say that although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshiping, we have different ways of living, we can live together in peace. And so, I think that to promote that kind of image is something which the world needs to hear today, and that together we can continue to offer in our witness as we continue on this apostolic voyage.”
He concluded by thanking the journalists for their service and wishing those on board “a wonderful trip.”
The papal plane touched down in Yaoundé around 3 p.m. local time on April 15. The pope was welcomed with a full honor guard on the tarmac at the foot of the staircase of the plane.
Pope Leo is visiting the central African nation April 15-18, during which time he will meet with religious and political leaders, traditional chiefs, peacemakers, as well as the more than eight million Catholics living in the country.
The pope will visit three cities in Cameroon: the capital Yaoundé on April 15, the northwestern city of Bamenda on April 16, and Douala, the country’s largest city and economic hub, on April 17.
The highly anticipated papal visit to Bamenda will bring Pope Leo directly into a conflict zone in Cameroon’s Anglophone northwest, where a separatist conflict has been ongoing for nearly a decade.
Two days before the pope’s arrival, a separatist alliance in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions declared a three-day ceasefire, saying it would observe the three-day “safe travel passage” to allow civilians and visitors to move freely during the pope’s visit.
Material from Catholic News Service was used in this report.
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