Pope Leo to visit Monaco, Africa and Spain, Vatican confirms

Church leaders in Peru reportedly expect Leo to visit in late 2026, while the Holy See confirmed earlier this month that there is no plan for him to travel to the United States in 2026.

The Holy See announced the Pope’s scheduled international travel for 2026, including a 10-day visit to Africa in April.

It confirmed on Wednesday that Pope Leo will visit Monaco on 28 March. The principality is one of five states worldwide – including the Vatican City State – where Catholicism is the official religion. Prince Albert II of Monaco had a private audience with Leo on 17 January.

The apostolic journey to Africa on 13-23 April will consist of consecutive visits to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea.

In Algeria, the Pope will spend two days in Algiers, whose archbishop Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco OP previously reported Pope Leo’s plan to visit, and Annaba, the modern site of the ancient city of Hippo where St Augustine was bishop from 396 until his death in 430.

The visit to Cameroon on 15-18 April will include the capital Yaoundé and the country’s largest city Douala, as well as Bamenda, the capital of the English-speaking Northwest region where government forces have been fighting separatist groups since 2017.

Pope Leo will then spend three days visiting the Angolan capital Luanda, as well as Muxima – site of the sixteenth-century Church of Our Lady of Muxima and a major pilgrimage shrine since a Marian apparition in 1833 – and Saurimo, a centre of the diamond mining industry.

In Equatorial Guinea on 21-23 April, he will visit the cities of Bata and Malabo, which was the country’s capital until January this year, and Mongomo, where the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is the second largest Catholic church building in Africa.

The third international apostolic journey of the year will be to Spain on 6-12 of June.  During his visit, the Pope will visit Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, though further details of his itinerary are still being finalised.

What has been confirmed is that Leo will visit Barcelona to unveil the Jesus Tower at the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia, completed on 20 February. His visit to the Catalan capital will coincide with celebrations on 10 June marking the centenary of the death of Venerable Antoní Gaudi, the architect of the basilica.

“This is a joy and we thank Pope Leo XIV for inaugurating the tower,” the Archbishop of Barcelona Cardinal Juan José Omella told Ràdio Estel, a Catalan broadcaster linked to the Archdiocese of Barcelona. He added that, like the late Pope Francis, Leo’s focus was the Church being “present in the world” and that he sought to “bring a message of peace and harmony”.

The Spanish daily El País reported that the basilica’s building committee had announced last September that it had asked the Vatican to guarantee Pope Leo could officiate at the Mass on 10 June, although in terms of protocol that request should have initially come from the royal household.

Pope Leo will conclude his time in Spain visiting La Palma in the Canary Islands and Tenerife in an event designed to reflect his concern – shared by the late Pope Francis – for the many refugees and migrants who reach the shores of the archipelago.

Pope Leo’s first apostolic journey was a visit to Turkey and Lebanon between 27 November and 2 December, fulfilling Pope Francis’ undertaking to attend commemorations marking 1,700 years since the First Council of Nicaea.

Church leaders in Peru, where he served as bishop, reportedly expect Leo to visit in late 2026. The Holy See confirmed earlier this month that there is no plan for him to travel to the United States in 2026.

View from Rome

Pope Leo’s road map for the Church

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