ANNABA, Algeria (OSV News) ─ Pope Leo XIV offered Mass April 14 at the basilica built near the site where St. Augustine died nearly 1,600 years ago, making a deeply personal pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Algeria.
"Here the martyrs prayed; here St. Augustine loved his flock, fervently seeking the truth and serving Christ with ardent faith," the pope said in his homily, delivered in French. "Be heirs to this tradition, bearing witness through fraternal charity to the freedom of those born from above as a hope of salvation for the world."
Preaching to hundreds of people inside the Basilica of St. Augustine, the pope, who called himself a "son of Augustine" in his first speech as pope from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, emphasized Augustine's dramatic conversion from a restless seeker of truth to one of Christianity's greatest saints.
"We revere him for his conversion even more than for his wisdom," said Pope Leo, who twice quoted directly from St. Augustine's autobiography "Confessions."
He also recalled the role of Augustine's mother, St. Monica, whose persistent prayers and tears accompanied her son's conversion.
"Can we truly start our lives over again?" Pope Leo asked the congregation. "Yes! The Lord's response, so full of love, fills our hearts with hope. No matter how weighed down we are by pain or sin: The crucified One carries all these burdens with us and for us."
The Mass marked the second day of the pope's 11-day pilgrimage through four African nations -- Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea -- and the culminating moment of the first papal visit to the North African country.
Before the Mass, Pope Leo visited the nearby archaeological ruins of ancient Hippo Regius, the Roman city where Augustine served as bishop from about A.D. 396 until his death in 430, as Vandal forces besieged its walls.
Arriving in the rain beneath a white umbrella, the pope laid a wreath of flowers, planted a small olive tree and paused in silent prayer before the ancient columns.
White doves, released in his honor, settled on the ruins around him while an Algerian choir and musicians playing traditional mizmar and oud instruments performed for the pope.
At the age of 70, Pope Leo has spent most of his life as an Augustinian, including as prior general of the Augustinian Order, during which he twice visited the Augustinian missionaries in Algeria.
Since his election last May, Pope Leo's homilies and public addresses have returned repeatedly to St. Augustine's writings, frequently quoting the doctor of the Church.
On the papal plane en route to Algiers on April 13, the pope told OSV News that he recommends St. Augustine's "Letter to Proba," written in A.D. 412, as a beautiful reflection on prayer in which "Augustine gives some wonderful guidelines and hints, if you will, about how our prayer can really be meaningful."
He also pointed to Augustine's "Confessions" as suggested spiritual reading.
"On this trip especially I would say if anyone has not read 'The Confessions of St. Augustine,' it is a great place to start," the pope said.
In his homily in the basilica, Pope Leo drew directly from that text, quoting Augustine's celebrated prayer: "Give, O Lord, what you command, and command what you will."
He also cited the saint's reflection, "I could not therefore exist, could not exist at all, O my God, unless you were in me. Or should I not rather say, that I could not exist unless I were in you."
The basilica where the pope offered Mass was constructed between 1881 and 1907 on a hill overlooking the archaeological site of the ancient church where Augustine preached. The basilica today holds a relic of one of the saint's arm bones.
A small and very diverse Catholic community carries on Augustine's legacy in modern Algeria, a nation that is more than 99% Muslim. Attending the Mass were many young Catholics from different African countries who are studying in Algeria.
"Dearest Christians of Algeria, you remain a humble and faithful sign of Christ's love in this land," Pope Leo said.
"Your presence in this country is like incense: a glowing grain that spreads fragrance because it gives glory to the Lord and joy and comfort to so many brothers and sisters," he added.
The readings at Mass were read in Arabic, English and French, reflecting the multinational character of Algeria's Catholic faithful, whom Algiers Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco described on April 13 as "a mosaic Church composed of several dozen nationalities."
The Augustinian community has been present at the basilica there since 1933. Currently, three Augustinians of different African nationalities serve the site full time, welcoming pilgrims and celebrating weekly Mass for local Christians.
"The Apostles proclaim that our lives can change because Christ has risen from the dead," Pope Leo said in his homily.
"The primary task of pastors as ministers of the Gospel is therefore to bear witness to God before the world with one heart and one soul, not permitting our concerns to lead us astray through fear, nor trends to undermine us through compromise," he said.
Before the Mass, Pope Leo visited a nursing home adjacent to the basilica run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, where five sisters and a team of volunteers and staff care for approximately 40 elderly residents, the majority of whom are Muslim. The facility contains both a chapel and a small mosque. The pope greeted residents and listened to the testimony of one Muslim resident.
"Wherever there is love and service, God is there," Pope Leo told the residents.
"God's heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies," he said. "But our Father's heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant or the proud. God's heart is with the little ones, with the humble, and with them he builds up his Kingdom of love and peace day by day, just as you are striving to do here in your daily service, in your friendship and life together."
Pope Leo flew to Annaba from Algiers aboard a chartered Air Algérie flight, escorted by Algerian military fighter jets for the roughly one-hour journey. The pope flew back to Algiers in the evening before departing the following morning on a flight of more than five hours to Yaoundé, Cameroon.
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Courtney Mares is Vatican editor for OSV News. Follow her on X @catholicourtney.
