Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Algeria carried profound symbolic, cultural, and political significance, far beyond a routine diplomatic visit. A powerful image came to define the entire visit: the Pope praying at the Great Mosque of Algiers alongside its rector, Mohamed Mamoune El Kacimi El Hassini (Muḥammad Maʾmūn al-Qāsimī al-Ḥasanī). This moment, widely shared on social media, shattered long-standing stereotypes portraying Algeria as intolerant or closed to religious difference. Instead, it highlighted a spirit of tolerance, dialogue, and openness, offering a compelling counter-narrative to years of negative international perceptions shaped by media coverage and memories of the "black decade," which was marked by the barbarism of Islamist terrorism, which widely spread the idea that the country "rejects differences" and "abhors all other faiths."