Algeria is the largest African country by land area, and of its 48 million inhabitants, Christians make up less than 1%. It is the country Pope Leo XIV chose as the first stop of his African journey, which will then take him to Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. He arrived on April 13, 2026, and his initial meetings with the Algerian community highlighted the life and work of interreligious organizations and initiatives that have been active in the country for many years, often little known. <\/p>\n\n
One of these is the Focolare Movement, a network dedicated to spiritual unity that arrived in predominantly Muslim Algeria in 1966. Its activities in the country are animated by Muslim members\u2014mostly women\u2014who take part by working in small groups throughout Algeria. They offer assistance in local centers for the elderly, provide tutoring for students, or study together with them. <\/p>\n\n
The experience of a \u201ctrue\u201d faith\u2014one that \u201cdoes not isolate but opens, unites without confusing, draws close without imposing uniformity, and fosters genuine fraternity\u201d\u2014was shared in French by Monia Zergane, a Muslim woman whose life has become \u201ca sign of hope for our world.\u201d In the services of the Catholic Church in Algeria, Christians and Muslims work \u201cside by side,\u201d she explained, sharing the same concerns: \u201cto welcome, serve, listen, care for the most vulnerable, organize, secure financial resources, and ensure that activity centers are safe places that uphold human dignity.\u201d It is a service to the most \u201cvulnerable\u201d\u2014women, children, the elderly, the sick\u2014lived \u201ctogether\u201d and capable of creating a \u201creal fraternity,\u201d she said, grounded in the conviction that \u201cto serve humanity is first and foremost to serve God.\u201d This commitment, she emphasized, is nourished by all the \u201cbeautiful\u201d qualities brought into play: skills, dedication, patience, forgiveness, compassion, and kindness. <\/p>\n\n
She also spoke of brothers and sisters who were an \u201cimmense help and comfort\u201d to her during illness, recalling with gratitude how she \u201ccould rely on their closeness, their unwavering solidarity, their gentleness, and their prayers.\u201d In particular, the presence of a Focolare community and the daily effort to put love of neighbor into practice, she acknowledged, \u201coften challenges me and helps me understand that life is not primarily made up of great, visible works, but of a communion lived day by day.\u201d Aware that fraternity is also built through \u201csimple gestures\u2014a smile, a greeting that comes from the heart, a kind word, a service offered without expecting anything in return\u2014and through the small things of everyday life: exchanging good wishes for a feast, sharing a meal after a time of fasting, listening to the spiritual meaning of a celebration.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Compiled by the Editorial Staff<\/em><\/p>\n\n Photo: \u00a9 Joaqu\u00edn Masera – CSC Audiovisivi<\/em><\/p>\n\n \u201cI am not a politician; I speak of the Gospel (\u2026) and to the leaders of the world I say: no more wars.\u201d Pope Leo XIV began his journey to Africa with these words, answering journalists aboard the plane en route to his first stop, Algeria. It is a tireless and courageous commitment to peace, one that the Focolare Movement wholeheartedly supports. Peace and interreligious dialogue were recurring themes in many of the testimonies presented to the Pope, including that of the Focolare community. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":401150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2839,2830,3286],"tags":[2929,3349,3919,3196],"class_list":["post-401151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chiesa-2","category-focolari-nel-mondo-2","category-testimonianze-di-vita-en","tag-algeria-2","tag-notifiche-en","tag-papa-leone-xiv-en","tag-ppg-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401152,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401151\/revisions\/401152"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}