Pope criticises anti-Muslim ‘fears’ in Europe, US, targets visit to Africa

Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday criticised anti-migrant activists who stoke “fears” of Islam and said co-operation between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon should be an example for Europe and the United States. The 70-year-old pope spoke to reporters on the plane at the end of his visit to Turkey and Lebanon – his first trip outside of Italy since becoming head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in May. Leo said anti-Muslim sentiment was “oftentimes generated by people who are against immigration and trying to keep out people who may be from another country, another religion, another race.” He said his visit to Lebanon was intended to show “that dialogue and friendship between Muslims and Christians is possible”. Leo said stories he heard during the trip of Christians and Muslims helping each other were “lessons… that we should perhaps be a little less fearful”. The US-born pope spent two decades in Peru as a missionary within the Augustinian order. He has been critical of growing nationalist sentiment in Europe and the United States and has called for an end to the “inhuman treatment” of migrants under US President Donald Trump. He has also exhorted followers to reject an “exclusionary mindset” that he said had led to nationalism around the world. Leo has said the Catholic Church “must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race”.

Plans trip to Africa Wrapping up his first international trip as pontiff, Pope Leo XIV said he would like to visit Algeria in 2026 as part of a voyage to Africa, which could be his next overseas destination. “I hope to make a trip to Africa, which could be my next trip,” the US pope said. “Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places from the life of Saint Augustine,” he said, in reference to the fifth-century saint from the North African country. Leo belongs to the Augustinian order, which was founded in the 13th century and has nearly 3,000 members in around 50 countries. Such a visit would allow the head of the Catholic Church to “continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds”, he said.

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