Amid the US far right’s hijacking of Christianity and his very public row with Trump, Pope Leo XIV’s visit is symbolic of the ‘growing centrality of Africa and its Black diaspora’
Don’t get The Long Wave delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
A
lmost a year after his election, Pope Leo XIV made his first visit to Africa, the longest international trip of his tenure so far. The visit is heavy with symbolism at a time of global unsettlement, one during which the stature and importance of the pope extends far beyond the church. I spoke with Father Ambroise Tine, formerly secretary general of Caritas Senegal, and currently of the diocese of Thiès in Senegal, about the significance of the papal visit.
While the number of Catholics has been increasing globally in recent years, the concentration of growth has been in Africa and the Americas. More than half of the increase in 2022-23 was in Africa, according to the latest figures from Agenzia Fides, the information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies. This is part of a longer trend that started in 1970 with a shift towards the global south.
