Pope Leo XIV’s 11-day African tour has drawn tens of thousands of worshippers on a journey that was always about more than pastoral outreach.

Africa is the fastest-growing part of the Catholic Church worldwide, accounting for nearly 300 million believers in 2024. One in five Catholics today are African yet Africa still holds only around 10% of the cardinal seats of power at the Vatican. That gap between demographic reality and institutional influence is the animating tension behind a trip spanning Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and then Equatorial Guinea.

Leo’s journey, which concludes on Thursday, has intertwined the theme of peace with concerns for the plight of the poor as well as refugees. Migration was a particular focus in Algeria, one of the continent’s transit corridors toward Europe. His condemnation of the US-Iran war drew a broadside from US President Donald Trump but the Pope played it down. In Cameroon, his speech to authorities was pointed, slamming “tyrants” for ransacking their countries as he appealed to leaders to examine their “conscience.” And in Angola, he warned against those who plunder the continent’s resources while delivering only poverty.