Angola among African Countries Pope Leo XIV to Visit, Dates, Program Being Finalized: Apostolic Nuncio

Also speaking during the press conference, the President of the Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) called upon Angolans to participate in the committees that will be established to prepare for the Papal visit. 

“Each of these committees should give their best in the preparation, promotion, and realization of all tasks assigned,” Archbishop José Manuel Imbamba of Angola’s Saurimo Catholic Archdiocese said.

Archbishop Imbamba thanked Pope Leo XIV for accepting the invitation to visit Angola.

On his part, Archbishop Filomeno do Nascimento Vieira Dias of Angola’s Archdiocese of Luanda, described the planned Papal trip as a “moment of great human and spiritual comfort,” occurring during a special period in the history of Christianity and in the year marking the “grand jubilee of Luanda – 450 years as a city, 450 years celebrating the faith.”

Archbishop Dias emphasized that the visit places Angola on the path of evangelization and universality.

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Angola among African Countries Pope Leo XIV to Visit, Dates, Program Being Finalized: Apostolic Nuncio

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He went on to thank the Angolan government for “opening the doors” and for accepting to collaborate with faith-based leaders to facilitate the Papal visit.

In December 2025, Pope Leo XIV reportedly indicated that he would visit Africa in 2026, naming Algeria as a possible initial destination. Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon were also mentioned as potential stops. 

Pope Leo XIV is the first Pontiff in modern history with firsthand knowledge of Africa. Unlike his predecessors, he had already been to Eastern, Western, Southern, Northern, and Central Africa in person. 

As he began his Papacy following his May 2025 election as the 267th Pontiff, the American-born member of the Order of St. Augustine (OSA) had visited Kenya at least half a dozen times, the Regional Vicar of OSA members in the East African nation told ACI Africa, the last visit to the country having taken place in December 2024.

In the 12 May 2025 interview, Fr. Robert Karanja Ireri recalled that Pope Leo XIV had visited the neighboring Tanzania, confirming the country’s Daily News report that he had visited the East African nation multiple times.

Fr. Karanja also confirmed that Pope Leo XIV visited Algeria in North Africa.

Some members of the Augustinian Sisters of the Mercy of Jesus (AMJ) in South Africa recalled their interaction with Pope Leo XIV, then Fr. Robert Francis Prevost, when he visited the Southern African nation.

According to the Nigeria Catholic Network’s (NCN) May 10 report, Pope Leo XIV would not be “a stranger to Nigeria, as records show that he has visited the country on at least nine occasions between 2001 and 2016.”

In his capacity as OSA Prior General, Pope Leo XIV, then Fr. Robert Francis Prevost presided over the inauguration of the Augustinian University in the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa, in 2009.

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