For Leo, first Augustinian pope, Algeria trip marks a spiritual homecoming

That the first stop on the first distinctly Leo papal trip is to a place with so much personal history for the pope — the leader of the worldwide Augustinian religious order for 12 years before becoming a bishop — reaffirms the saint's role in how he sees his pontificate.

The trip shows "Leo deepening his own commitment to his Augustinian roots, giving great honor and homage to Augustine: who he was, who he is for him now and for his leadership," said Augustinian Fr. Kevin De Prinzio, assistant general for the Order of St. Augustine based in Rome.  

"On that very earth is where Augustine wrote the Confessions, the City of God, De Trinitate, our own rule, reflected on his own life, his baptism, lived in community, served the people of God, sat in dialogue with people, encountered difference, worked toward unity — all things that are very important to Leo and are ongoing needs of the church and the world right now," De Prinzio told the National Catholic Reporter.

In his sermons, Augustine recounts his resistance to entering the church's hierarchy, writing: "I did everything I could to assure my salvation in a lowly position and not to incur the grave risks of a high one." Leo likewise did not pursue the papacy. He had talked about planning his retirement and was convinced that an American could not be elected pope.

And as a reluctant shepherd, Leo has plenty to draw on from Augustine's example. Both were tasked with holding together a church that crept toward divisions.

In the fourth century, Augustine's "number one concern was really about fostering unity and communion," De Prinzio said. In particular, the saint was active in combatting the divisive heresy of Donatism, which held that the church's pastors had to be morally faultless in order to validly minister the sacraments. 

"It may not be Donatism that we're dealing with today, but Augustine was a bridge-builder and Leo sees himself also as a bridge-builder," De Prinzio said, "so going back to Africa, to Hippo, is really him enacting what is important to him in a symbolic gesture." 

Discussing the prospect of his Africa trip in December, Leo said he wanted to visit the sites associated with St. Augustine, but also to continue the work of "building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world."

St. Augustine, he said then, "helps a great deal as a bridge, because in Algeria he is very much respected as a son of the homeland."

The African saint came up in turbulent times for the church. Christianity went from the object of persecution in the Roman empire to the official state religion in his lifetime. Augustine also had to speak out against various and oftentimes competing strains of Christianity that emerged in North Africa, sometimes violently, within the still-young religion. 

As a result, Augustine called for people to unify "by a common agreement as to the objects of their love," urging Christians and non-Christians alike to band together in pursuit of the common good.

Perhaps in that spirit, Leo has made unity a central element of his pontificate, returning to the theme of unity time and time again as pope. 

In Africa, Leo will have a powerful platform to issue calls for unity. Relations between Christians and Muslims have been strained in Algeria, which is more than 99% Muslim. In 2022, the Algerian government shut down the Catholic charity agency Caritas Algeria. 

In Cameroon, the pope will travel to the northwest city of Bamenda, where feelings of marginalization among the Anglophone population have resulted in violence and calls for the English-speaking communities to separate from the primarily Francophone national government. Angola, meanwhile, is still repairing its national identity following the 27-year civil war which ended in 2002, and Equatorial Guinea will be thinking about how to position itself for a change in leadership as its president, in power since 1979, approaches 84 years old. 

Though the work of the Augustinian order in Algeria is small — only three friars live in Annaba to tend to the Basilica of St. Augustine — the pope will meet with the Augustinian community. Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope, met with the Jesuit community in whichever country he traveled to. 

While patterns in Leo's travel are still taking shape, future trips to Spain and potentially Peru could include meetings with those countries' sizable Augustinian communities.

But in choosing to begin his papal travels by returning to the ancient ruins at Hippo, Leo is pointing to the foundations of his own papacy: a vision of the church shaped by Augustine that is rooted in unity and committed to building bridges.