Pope Leo XIV, First Pontiff in Modern History with Firsthand Knowledge of Africa

Nairobi, 15 May, 2025 / 11:47 pm (ACI Africa).

Robert Francis Cardinal Prevost, the newly elected 267th Pontiff, who has taken the Papal name Leo XIV, is beginning his Papacy with firsthand knowledge of Africa. Unlike his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV has already been to Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Central Africa in person. As he begins his Pontificate, he has been in Kenya at least six times and in neighbouring Tanzania more than five times.

In modern history, Pope St. Paul VI is acclaimed to have been the first Roman Pontiff to set foot on the African soil. As Giovanni Battista Cardinal Montini, he was part of the 1962 pilgrimage to Africa, reportedly visiting multiple African nations, including Ghana, Sudan, Kenya, Congo, Rhodesia (parts of Zambia and Zimbabwe), South Africa, and Nigeria. This one-time visit before his election as Pope in June 1963 could not accord him firsthand knowledge. As Roman Pontiff, Pope St. Paul VI arrived in the East African nation of Uganda on 31 July 1969. The Italian-born Pontiff, whose Papacy ended in August 1978 when he passed on is reported to have said, “For the first time (in) history, the Successor of Peter as Vicar of Christ sets foot upon the soil of Africa”.

St. Paul VI.

His immediate successor, Pope St. John Paul II, made his first-ever African trip in May 1980, visiting six countries in a span of 11 days – the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire), Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ghana, Burkina Faso (then Upper Volta), and the Ivory Coast. In his just over 26-year Pontificate, the native of Poland made 16 trips to Africa, visiting some 43 African countries.

Pope St. John Paul II. / L'Osservatore Romano

In his eight-year Pontificate between April 2005 and February 2013, Pope Benedict XVI made two trips to Africa, first in March 2009, when he visited Cameroon and Angola. Later in November 2011, he visited the West African nation of Benin, where he presented the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Church in Africa in service to reconciliation, justice and peace, Africae Munus, the final document of the Second African Synod.

Pope Benedict XVI greets the pilgrims during his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Oct. 26, 2006. | giulio napolitano / Shutterstock

On his part, the late Pope Francis made five pastoral trips to Africa during which he visited 10 countries. His maiden visit to the world's second largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases, was a three-nation trip, starting off in Kenya, then to Uganda, and on to the Central African Republic (CAR). The late Pontiff last trip to Africa was in South Sudan in February 2023 in what was a two-nation visit that kicked off in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The late Pope Francis, who passed on Easter Monday, April 21, aged 88 also visited Egypt in April 2017 and in March 2019, Morrocco. In September 2019, he realized another three African-nation trip in Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius.

Pope Francis at the general audience in St. Peter's Square, Oct. 5, 2016.

Pope Leo XIV and East Africa

While the people of God in Africa will be looking forward to his visit as the Roman Pontiff whenever that will be planned, Pope Leo XIV will be traveling to a familiar territory.

The 69-year-old American-born member of the Order of St. Augustine (OSA) has visited the East African nation of Kenya at least half a dozen times, the Regional Vicar of OSA members in Kenya has said, the latest visit having taken place in December 2024.

Pope Leo XIV speaks to participants in the Jubilee of Eastern Churches on May 14, 2025, in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican.

“All the years I can remember he visited Kenya are: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2024,” Fr. Robert Karanja Ireri has told ACI Africa, and explained, “Pope Leo XIV was the Prior General of the Order of St. Augustine from 2001 to 2013. He served for two terms (6 years each term). As the Prior General, he is expected to visit all Augustinian communities directly or through his delegates.”

Fr. Karanja further explained that “Kenya was special” during Pope Leo XIV’s tenure as OSA Superior General because as a "Delegation" at the time, the East African nation “was under our general Curia in Rome thus he was the major superior of Kenya for twelve years.”

The OSA Prior General travelled out of Nairobi “and visited Augustinian Sisters and Augustinian missions in Ishiara” in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Embu, Fr. Karanja recalled, adding that “on 8 October 2006, he (now Pope Leo XIV) received my Solemn Profession together with three of my confreres at Babadogo during the Augustinian Jubilee Mass.”

October 2005 during the ordination mass then opening of the VCT building followed. Credit: Order of St. Augustine (Augustinians)/Kenya

The Kenyan Augustinian Priest also recalled Pope Leo XIV’s 2011 visit to Kenya, when he presided over the official opening of “the new Nursery block at Babadogo Sacred heart Catholic school (Nairobi Archdiocese), for which he had assisted to raise funds.”

While he recalled that Pope Leo XIV “made visits to various Augustinian communities in Kenya” during the 2011 trip, Fr. Karanja confessed that he could not “remember the particular dates and how many communities he visited.”

However, the new Pontiff’s last visit to Kenya in December 2024 is fresh on Fr. Karanja’s mind. Pope Leo XIV, he told ACI Africa, arrived in Nairobi on 9 December 2024 ahead of the consecration and dedication of the new chapel at Augustinian International House of Theology in Karen, Nairobi.

Pope Leo XIV (right) and Fr. Robert Karanja Ireri (left) in December 2024. Credit: Order of St. Augustine (Augustinians)/Kenya

“The Mass for consecration took place on 10 December 2025 and the same day I drove him to the airport in the evening,” the OSA Regional Vicar in Kenya recalled.

He added, “We invited him because he was the one who brought the idea of having a common theological formation house for all Augustinians in Africa. He was involved in the process of getting funds and initiating the project and left to his successor to continue.”