{"id":355,"date":"2026-04-14T05:23:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=355"},"modified":"2026-04-14T05:23:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:23:01","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-in-algeria-to-walk-in-footsteps-of-his-spiritual-father-st-augustine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uscnews.org\/?p=355","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV in Algeria to walk in footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo XIV meets the Algerian Community in the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers, Monday, April 13, 2026, on the first day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa. (AP Photo\/Andrew Medichini)<\/small><\/p>\n

2026-04-14T05:04:01Z<\/p>\n

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) \u2014 Pope Leo XIV<\/a><\/span> is following in the footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine, making a pilgrimage to the archaeological ruins of eastern Algeria where the fifth century titan of early Christianity lived, died and wrote some of the most important works in Western thought.<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s visit to Annaba, the modern-day Hippo, is a spiritual homecoming for the American pope on his second full day in Algeria<\/a><\/span>. He arrived Monday on the first-ever papal visit, against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and his calls for peace that have sparked a feud with U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Leo proclaimed himself a \u201cson of St. Augustine\u201d on the night of his election and has cited Augustine prolifically in his first year, making clear he is the guiding inspiration of Leo\u2019s pontificate. For this trip, where he is aiming to press a message of peace and Christian-Muslim coexistence, he is focusing on Augustine as a bridge-builder.<\/p>\n

But the visit is also drawing attention to the North African origins of Augustine, who only spent five years in Italy but is often considered through a Eurocentric lens as one of the greatest Western thinkers of Christianity for his writings on truth, evil, creation and grace. <\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s Augustinian religious order<\/a><\/span> was founded in Italy in the 13th century, inspired by the saint.<\/p>\n

A life in North Africa, looking to Rome<\/h2>\n

St. Augustine was born in 354 to a Berber mother and Roman father in Thagaste, today the Algerian city of Souk Ahras near the border with Tunisia. At the time, the swath of North Africa was part of the Roman Empire, including Carthage in today\u2019s Tunisia, where Augustine was educated and taught rhetoric.<\/p>\n

He left North Africa for Rome in 383 and then Milan, where he converted to Christianity. He returned to his homeland soon thereafter, founded a monastery at Hippo, became a bishop and there wrote some of the most important works in the Western canon, including \u201cConfessions\u201d and \u201cThe City of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new book, \u201cAugustine the African,\u201d by Catherine Conybeare, an Augustine scholar at Bryn Mawr college in Pennsylvania, explores Augustine from his perspective: As a North African, looking to Rome as the center of his universe but feeling insecure there about his Punic-accented Latin.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n