By Ngala Killian Chimtom, OSV News
OSV News – As Pope Leo XIV prepares to visit Algeria as the first stop of his apostolic trip to Africa April 13–23, Bishop Michel Guillaud of Constantine-Hippone told OSV News the Holy Father’s presence will demonstrate that Christianity “is an asset and not a danger” to Algeria.
The birthplace of St. Augustine is the first stop of his trip and “overjoyed” with the fact the pontiff is coming, with the Vatican releasing a detailed itinerary of the first African journey of the pontiff March 16.
“The Holy Father has already visited Algeria twice, in 2003 and 2014, when he was prior general of the Order of St. Augustine,” Bishop Guillard told OSV News. “He is not coming primarily on a personal pilgrimage in the footsteps of St. Augustine, but to meet the Algerian people and to support his Church, drawing on the strong bond between them through the figure of Augustine.”
Algeria is 99% Sunni Muslim, and the Catholic Church counts just 8,740 members, about 0.019% of the population, out of more than 45 million people, according to the 2025 edition of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican’s annual yearbook.
In a conversation with OSV News, the Algerian Church leader discussed the deep connection to St. Augustine that unites the Pope with the nation, the daily realities faced by Christians who are “one in a thousand,” and their hopes for a future in a place where Christianity “does not exist primarily through the presence of a priest, but through the presence of Christians.”
Bishop Guillaud, originally from Lyon, France, became a parish priest in Algeria in 2006. He was named administrator of the Diocese of Constantine-Hippone in 2024 and appointed bishop in July 2025.
Reflecting on the May 8, 2025, election of Pope Leo to the Chair of Peter, he said: “When Pope Leo was elected, one of his first statements was: ‘I am the son of Saint Augustine.’ All of Algeria trembled … since then, they have been waiting for him,” the bishop said.
“Algerians know that Popes are not only concerned with their flock, but also with peace, justice and reconciliation for all. If the Holy Father is coming to Algeria, it is because he believes that everyone has a part to play in building the Kingdom of God, including the Muslim Algerian people. The hope of the Church in Algeria is that the Algerian people will grow in the conviction that Christians are not a threat, but that their presence and what inspires them can be good news for everyone,” the bishop emphasized.
On April 14, the Pope will travel 310 miles from Algiers to celebrate Mass in the Basilica of Hippo, in the city now called Annaba. St. Augustine was the bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, the year of his death. Annaba is a familiar place for local Muslims who travel Annaba every year to visit – be it families, tourists, school groups and university students – to discover the place and the man whose memory it preserves.
“Every year, we organize ‘Augustinian Days’ in Hippo, attended by both Muslims and Christians,” Bishop Guillaud told OSV News. “The three speakers this year were Algerian and expressed how much the bishop of Hippo was a source of inspiration for them. Augustine was, in his life as in his thinking, a seeker of truth, a builder of unity, a person who scrutinized the world with intelligence and faith. He propels us forward by telling us to love in everything we do, to sing the ‘alleluia of the road’ even when we are going through trials, and to walk with perseverance and confidence.”
Asked about the daily realities faced by Christians, and their hopes for a future, the bishop first highlighted the number of Christians a Muslim-majority country: “(of) 47 million inhabitants, Catholics are perhaps one in a thousand,” he said. “Every day we are questioned about not being Muslim. It takes a great deal of effort to join a Christian community in a country of 2.5 million square kilometers (919,595 square miles), and some have to travel several hours by road to do so.”
A diversity of languages spoken – and those include English, Portuguese, Arabic, French, Berber – provides challenges for Christian gathering in the North African country.
“Sunday is a working day, so we have to meet on the weekend, on Friday or Saturday. We do not have a priest in every parish, and Christians must learn that a community does not begin with the presence of a priest, but with Christians. Our communities are not very large. They rarely exceed fifty people, more often gathering 15 to 30, which gives them a character that is both more austere and more familiar.”
The bishop underlined that the main task of Catholic priests in Algeria is “to support Christians and maintain fraternal ties with Muslims.”
“We sometimes welcome people who come knocking on our door because they feel called to follow Christ. For Christians of European origin, it is considered ‘normal’ for them to be Christians,” but for people from sub-Saharan Africa, “it is more surprising.”
“When Christians are of Algerian origin, it comes as a shock. The authorities tolerate it, respecting the conscience of the country’s citizens, but society struggles to accept it. These new Christians often have to remain very discreet in their family, social and professional environments. And evangelical communities composed solely of Algerians struggle to be recognized. Our presence in society, when it manifests itself in cultural or charitable institutions, must remain modest, proportionate to our numbers,” Bishop Guillaud said.
The Pope’s visit, he highlighted, is “To show that difference is not a danger, that unity can coexist with differences, whereas too much emphasis on unanimity stifles freedom. If society becomes more accepting of difference, this will benefit everyone.”
“The Catholic Church is the custodian of a treasure in the Eucharist and the apostolic ministry,” Bishop Guillaud stressed. “But the latter has been exercised for too long in a way that gives it excessive importance. When there are fewer priests, the challenge for the community is to realize that it does not exist primarily through the presence of a priest, but through the presence of Christians, and to rethink itself accordingly. The future depends in part on the emergence of a new way of being Church. It also depends on the place that society will accept to give it. Everything is still possible.”
The bishop stressed that Algerian Christians await the Pope “with both great joy and a certain expectation: when St. Peter travels in the Acts of the Apostles, it is anything but ordinary. With his successor, we try to open our hearts to the grace proper to this visit.”
Ngala Killian Chimtom writes for OSV News from Yaounde, Cameroon.
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