In the home of Augustine of Hippo, Pope Leo says conversion is key to cultural change

ROME – Pope Leo XIV, the first Augustinian pope, made history again on Tuesday by becoming the first pontiff to visit Algeria, the birthplace of Saint Augustine of Hippo, after whom his religious order is named.

Famed among other things for his radical conversion from a hedonistic lifestyle of self-indulgence to one of self-sacrifice and faith, Augustine served as bishop of Hippo in Algeria for nearly 40 years, from 396-430.

Leo XIV, who emerged on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after his election to the papacy last year, declaring that he was a “son of Augustine,” made a day trip to Hippo (modern-day Annaba) on April 14 as part of his broader 11-day tour of Africa.

During his visit, the pope focused his message on the transformation of the human heart, saying that conversion, much like the one St. Augustine himself underwent, is key for those seeking cultural change in a culture still scarred by war.

In Algeria, a majority-Muslim nation, the aftereffects of the country’s war for independence and its “dirty war” of the 1990s are still palpable beneath the surface of a nation striving to heal from past wounds and promote a national process of dialogue