Returning from his historic visit to Türkiye, Dec. 2, Pope Leo XIV addressed the press while on the plane. In response to the several questions regarding the crisis in Gaza, His Holiness repeatedly emphasized (speaking alternately in English, Italian, and Spanish) that the road to peace was through dialogue. “I would say that we all need to work together. One of the values of this trip is precisely to raise the world’s attention to the possibility that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible,” the Pope said.
It should have come as no surprise then, when Leo said (now speaking in Spanish) that, while there was “nothing certain,” the place he would like to visit next was Africa. “Africa,” he repeated for the shocked reporter, who had clearly expected him to say Latin America, where he had spent many years. “Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places of Saint Augustine, but also in order to continue the conversation of dialogue, of building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world…. It is interesting,” he continued, “[that] the figure of Saint Augustine helps a great deal as a bridge, because in Algeria he is very much respected as a son of the homeland.”
“Then there are some other countries,” he said, “but we are working on it.”
