Pope Leo XIV’s recent trip to Algeria (March 13th-15th) represented the first time the head of the Catholic Church has embarked on an official visit to the country. There has been significant media commentary and speculation on why President Abdelmadjid Tebboune (b.1945) and the Algerian government extended the invitation to Pope Leo at this time. Certainly, the French colonial period (c.1830-1962) has cast a long shadow over Algeria’s foreign relations with France and the Catholic Church. The Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) ranks as one of the deadliest decolonization conflicts in the modern world and resulted in the loss of 300,000 to 500,000 Algerian lives. CAWU intern Lize Jaspers, an MA student in Conflict Studies and Human Rights at Utrecht University, has authored a preliminary analysis of this important visit: Pope Leo XIV’s 2026 Visit to Algeria: Interreligious Dialogue and the Vatican's Diplomatic Strategy. 

(Pope Leo XIV and the Imam Muḥammad al-Māʾmūn al-Qāsimī al-Hassanī in Algeria’s Grand Mosque.)

Readers may recall that Dialogue Across Borders recently highlighted the work of Chems Eddine Hafiz, the French-Algerian rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris. Our team translated his recent interview about the Pope’s visit, a section of which is included directly below: 

“One of the most striking images from the visit is the one showing the Pope with the rector of the Great Mosque of Algiers. Some people believe that a Pope has no business being in a mosque. What is your opinion?

I would say they are narrow-minded. I would like to point out that the Noble Qurʾān mentions all of God’s messengers and the prophets, both Christian and Jewish. I would also like to point out that Sūrat Maryam grants Mary a special status. She is the only woman explicitly mentioned in the Qurʾān, while the others are merely alluded to. The Pope truly belonged there. We welcomed him with the sense of brotherhood and the very essence of our faith and who we are. We are part of the human family. There is a verse in the Qurʾān in which God tells us: "I could have created you all alike, but instead, I created you different so that you might reach out to one another." I met Pope Francis and gave him a copy of the Qurʾān. He kissed it three times. If Pope Leo XIV had no business being in a mosque, why did Pope Francis kiss a copy of the Qurʾān? War and weapons are felt just a few thousand kilometers from here, in the Mediterranean Sea, which is the cradle of our humanity. Here in Algeria, it wasn’t the sound of weapons we heard, but words of peace. Today, we must not try to silence them. This Pope came and made the effort to reach out to us. Personally, I think that the message is wonderful. When I see the rector of the Great Mosque of Algiers and the Pope standing side by side, looking toward the miḥrāb, it strikes me as an extraordinary example of these religions.”

Related to this, we are pleased to publish an initial translation from Musulmans en Occident, the landmark volume recently produced by Chems Eddine Hafiz and the Grand Mosque of Paris. The book’s middle section is a glossary of key and sometimes controversial Islamic terms and concepts explained for modern audiences. Our team translated the entry for apostasy (Ar. ridda), a complicated and sensitive question in the modern world and in Christian-Muslim relations. After briefly tracing its history of interpretation, Musulmans en Occident affirms a robust vision of religious freedom and rejects any punishment for those who may decide to leave the Islamic faith. Our translation is now open access and can be found here. In my estimation, this is a notable statement from one of the leading Islamic institutions in France.

Matthew Anderson

Director - Center for Arab-West Understanding

Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders (De Gruyter Brill)

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April 28, 2026