Pope praises Christian martyrs in Algeria to local Catholics

- Courtney Mares, OSV News

In an address delivered inside the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa, a 19th-century church on a promontory overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Algiers, the Pope praised the 19 religious men and women beatified in 2018 who died during the Algerian civil war of the 1990s.

“It was precisely the love for his brothers and sisters that inspired the testimony of the martyrs we have commemorated,” the Pope said. “In the face of hatred and violence, they remained faithful to charity to the point of sacrificing themselves alongside many other men and women, Christians and Muslims.”.

9,000 Catholics and Sunni Muslim majority

The visit marks a momentous occasion for this North African country, where Catholics number fewer than 9,000 in a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation of more than 45 million people. Pope Leo XIV described the Church's role in Algeria as a “discreet and valuable presence.”.

Outside the basilica, in the pouring rain, stood a 19-year-old Catholic convert who shared with OSV News how, having grown up in a Muslim family, he was baptized in 2024 despite his family's opposition. 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said he was inspired by the miracles of the Church, particularly the Marian apparition of Our Lady of Zeitoun in Egypt. As an active member of the local Catholic community, he volunteered to help with the Pope's visit.

At the Great Mosque of Algiers: respecting each other and living in harmony

Prior to his arrival at the Basilica, the Pope visited the Great Mosque of Algiers. “Through this place of prayer, through the search for truth, including study and the ability to recognize the dignity of every human being, we know - and today's meeting is proof of this - that we can learn to respect each other, to live in harmony and to build a world of peace,” he commented spontaneously in Italian.

Our Lady of Africa Basilica, a sign of the desire for peace and unity

Inside the Catholic basilica Our Lady of Africa, Pope Leo sat under the apse mosaic with an inscription in French that translates as, «Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims.».

Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, Archbishop of Algiers, told the Pope that the vast majority of people who cross the threshold of the basilica are Muslims.

“‘Madame l'Afrique,’ as she is often called here, is engraved in the heritage of Algeria and in the hearts of Algerians,” the cardinal said in French. “The inscription that welcomes them, “pray for us and for Muslims,” expresses the maternal vocation of Mary for all humanity, and the vocation of this basilica, which hosts so many cultural and religious events, and gathers so many confidences and moments of intimate prayer.”.

In his speech inside the basilica, Pope Leo, also speaking in French, said, “This very basilica is a sign of our desire for peace and unity.”.

Communion between Christians and Muslims

“It symbolizes a Church of living stones, where communion between Christians and Muslims takes shape under the mantle of Our Lady of Africa,” he said.

During the event, people waited outside in the pouring rain while the basilica was completely full.

Among those present at the basilica was Father Jean Fernandes Costa, rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Algiers, who described the local Catholic Church as very small and “very diverse in terms of nationalities and cultures.” He added that the community serves “as a sign of the universality of the Church in a non-Christian society.”.

Brazilian parish priest, dialogue with Algerian society

He has been in Algeria for seven years, he told OSV News, serving the Archdiocese of Algiers not only as pastor of the cathedral, but also as chaplain to university students from sub-Saharan Africa.

“It is a very particular situation, since we are immersed in a predominantly Muslim society and we must constantly adapt to this reality,” said the priest, a Brazilian member of the Shalom Catholic Community. “Dialogue with Algerian society has gradually developed through welcoming visitors to our small churches and through our service to the poorest.”.

Father Fernandes affirmed that, for local Catholics, the papal trip to Algeria is “a great gift from God for this small Church, which never imagined a papal visit so early in his pontificate and at the beginning of his apostolic journey to Africa. It is also a sign of hope for the future of this small community”.

Missionary in the D.R. of Congo

Among those attending the event was Sister Brigitte Zawadi, a member of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who has been serving as a missionary in Algeria for two years.

“I work with students from many African countries, some of them from Algeria,” he told OSV News. “For me, it's a very special mission.”.

Great witnesses to the faith in North Africa

In his address, Pope Leo XIII highlighted the great witnesses to the faith, both ancient and modern, in North Africa, where St. Augustine was a bishop in the 4th century. He cited the writings of St. Charles de Foucauld, the French hermit and missionary canonized by Pope Francis in 2022, who lived in Algeria among the Tuareg people of the Sahara before his martyrdom. 

He also mentioned Brother Luc, the elderly doctor-monk of the Trappist community of Notre-Dame de l'Atlas in Tibhirine, Algeria, whose story was portrayed in the acclaimed 2010 French film «Of Men and Gods.».

Before his martyrdom, when offered the opportunity to flee from potential danger at the cost of abandoning his patients, Brother Luc simply replied: “I want to stay with them”.

Augustinian Sisters

Hours earlier, the Pope paid a private visit to the Augustinian Missionary Sisters of Bab El Oued to honor two of their members, Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso and Sister Caridad Alvarez Martin, who were killed in 1994 while on their way to Mass. Both are among the 19 martyrs beatified in 2018. Their congregation continues to serve the local community through education and social work aimed at children, youth and women.

After his address in the basilica, Pope Leo prayed in a side chapel dedicated to St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine, which also contained the cross of the Tibhirine monastery and an icon of the martyrs of Algeria, where the Pope lit a candle in prayer.

Geography of Algeria, vast Sahara Desert

In his message to the local Catholic community, Pope Leo XIII reflected on Algeria's geography as a spiritual metaphor, pointing to the vast Sahara desert that dominates much of the country's territory.

“In the desert, no one can survive alone,” he said. “The hostile environment dispels any presumption of self-sufficiency, reminding us that we need each other and we need God.”.

The evening meeting included an eclectic mix of hymns and multiple testimonies, including the words of a missionary and a Muslim.

“It's a real honor to meet the Pope.”

Rakel Anzere, 26, a Pentecostal Christian from Kenya studying in Algeria, shared with the Pope her experience participating in the ecumenical Taizé prayers with other students in Algeria.

“It's a real honor because I get to meet the Pope in person and also speak on behalf of ... what our experience has been like here in Algeria as Christians,” Anzere told OSV News before his testimony.

He added that it is evident to him that Pope Leo “carries the people of Africa in his heart”.

The meeting at the basilica was the Pope's last public act of the day before returning to the apostolic nunciature, where he will meet privately with the bishops of Algeria. On April 14, the Pope is scheduled to travel to Annaba and the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Hippo, where he will celebrate Mass in the Basilica of St. Augustine.

The Algerian leg of his journey is the first stop of an ambitious papal tour of 18 flights and 11,000 miles through four African nations: Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, which will run through April 23.

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- Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.

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