A2 · Elementary
11 min
travelreligionpoliticshistoryinternational relations
El Papa en África: Un Viaje al Futuro de la Iglesia
The Pope in Africa: A Journey to the Future of the Church
Fletcher breaks down this story in English. Octavio reacts and expands in Spanish. Follow along with the live transcript, tap any word for its translation. Elementary level — perfect for beginners building confidence.
So the Pope is in Africa.
Specifically, right now, he's in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, and this is the last stop on a four-country tour that's taken him through Algeria, Cameroon, and Angola.
Bueno, es un viaje muy largo.
Well, it's a very long trip.
It is a very long trip.
And the detail that caught my eye: he's the first pope to set foot in Equatorial Guinea since John Paul II did it in 1982.
That's over forty years.
Which raises a question I want to dig into today, which is, what does it actually mean when a pope travels?
Mira, África es importante para la Iglesia.
Look, Africa is important for the Church.
Enormously important.
And we'll get to that.
But first, let's just establish who Leo XIV is, because this is still a relatively new pope and some listeners may not know him well.
El Papa León es americano.
Pope Leo is American.
Es de Chicago.
He's from Chicago.
Right, he's American, which was itself a huge deal when he was elected.
Robert Prevost, an Augustinian friar, spent years doing missionary work in Peru before rising through the ranks of the Church.
So he carries both North and South America in him, in a way.
A ver, el Papa habla español también.
Well, the Pope also speaks Spanish.
He does speak Spanish.
And French.
And Italian.
The man is a language person, which, I have to say, earns him some points in my book.
La verdad es que el Papa viaja mucho.
The truth is the Pope travels a lot.
He does.
And that's actually a relatively modern thing.
For centuries, popes almost never left Rome.
I mean, the idea of a pope getting on a plane and flying to Equatorial Guinea would have been completely incomprehensible to, say, Pius XII.
Es que Juan Pablo II cambia todo.
The thing is, John Paul II changes everything.
John Paul II changes everything, yes.
Completely.
He visited 129 countries over 27 years.
129 countries.
That's more than most diplomats see in a lifetime.
The man basically invented the papal world tour as a format.
Bueno, Juan Pablo II visita Guinea Ecuatorial en 1982.
Well, John Paul II visits Equatorial Guinea in 1982.
1982.
And now Leo XIV goes back.
Forty-three years later.
So here's what I want to understand: why does Africa matter so much right now?
Because this isn't just sightseeing.
Mira, hay muchos católicos en África.
Look, there are many Catholics in Africa.
There are a lot of Catholics in Africa.
And the numbers are staggering when you look at them.
About 280 million Catholics on the continent right now, and projections say that by 2050, something like 40 percent of all the world's Catholics will be African.
Es que Europa tiene pocos católicos ahora.
The thing is, Europe has few Catholics now.
Europe's numbers are dropping fast.
Churches are empty, seminaries are struggling.
I covered a story once in Belgium where they were converting these grand old churches into restaurants and libraries.
Gorgeous buildings, completely empty on Sunday mornings.
A ver, en España la iglesia también tiene problemas.
Well, in Spain the church also has problems.
Spain too, right.
So the center of gravity is shifting.
And when Leo XIV gets on a plane to Malabo, he's not just doing a pastoral visit.
He's essentially saying: this is where the future of my institution lives.
Bueno, pero Malabo es una ciudad pequeña.
Well, but Malabo is a small city.
Malabo is small, yes.
Around 300,000 people.
Equatorial Guinea is actually the only Spanish-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa, which is an interesting detail on its own.
It was a Spanish colony until 1968.
La verdad es que el español es oficial allí.
The truth is that Spanish is an official language there.
Spanish is official there, along with French and Portuguese.
So Leo XIV, with his Spanish, probably felt quite at home.
But let's talk about what a papal visit actually looks like on the ground, because I think people have a vague image of it and the reality is quite different.
Mira, el Papa habla con el presidente del país.
Look, the Pope speaks with the president of the country.
He meets the president, yes.
And in Equatorial Guinea, that's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who has been in power since 1979.
He is one of the longest-serving leaders on the planet, and his government has a very troubled human rights record.
Es que el Papa visita países difíciles también.
The thing is, the Pope visits difficult countries too.
He does, and that's always been a source of tension.
When John Paul II visited countries with authoritarian governments, critics would say: does this visit give legitimacy to the regime?
And the Church's answer has always been: we go where the faithful are.
The government and the people are not the same thing.
A ver, la gente quiere ver al Papa.
Well, people want to see the Pope.
People really want to see the Pope.
I covered John Paul II's visit to Mexico City back in the day, and the crowds were just extraordinary.
Millions of people.
People camping overnight on pavements.
It's not like anything else in public life.
Bueno, el Papa es muy popular en África.
Well, the Pope is very popular in Africa.
Very popular.
And part of that is because in a lot of these communities, the Catholic Church isn't just a religious institution.
It runs the schools, it runs the hospitals, it's the social safety net.
When the state is weak or absent, the Church fills the gap.
La verdad es que la Iglesia tiene escuelas en muchos países.
The truth is the Church has schools in many countries.
Across the whole continent.
And that gives it enormous reach and authority.
Now, this tour, Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea: these aren't random picks.
What do you think the logic is in choosing those four?
Mira, Algeria es árabe y musulmana.
Look, Algeria is Arab and Muslim.
Es diferente.
It's different.
Algeria is majority Muslim, which is a really significant detail.
A pope visiting Algeria isn't primarily visiting a Catholic population.
It's a gesture toward interfaith dialogue.
Francis did it too.
These visits to Muslim-majority countries are deliberate signals.
Es que el Papa quiere paz entre las religiones.
The thing is, the Pope wants peace between religions.
That's the message, yes.
And it matters enormously right now, given everything happening in the Middle East and the tensions that follow from that globally.
So the choice of Algeria is both pastoral and deeply political.
Bueno, Camerún tiene muchos católicos.
Well, Cameroon has many Catholics.
About a third of the population, yes, and Cameroon has its own complex situation with the Anglophone crisis in the west, ongoing conflict, displacement.
The Pope going there is a gesture of solidarity with people who are suffering.
A ver, Angola tiene petróleo y muchos problemas.
Well, Angola has oil and many problems.
Angola: oil wealth, deep inequality, a long brutal civil war that ended in 2002 but left scars that haven't healed.
About 40 percent Catholic.
So again, enormous Catholic population in a country that has complicated history with Western institutions.
La verdad es que el Papa viaja con un mensaje.
The truth is the Pope travels with a message.
Always with a message.
And here's what gets me: the physical act of travel, the fact of the Pope being bodily present in a place, carries weight that a video call or a letter simply cannot replicate.
There's something about showing up.
Mira, el Papa viaja en avión especial.
Look, the Pope travels on a special plane.
He does travel on a specially arranged plane, and the press conferences he holds on those flights are actually famous among Vatican journalists.
Popes have said some genuinely surprising things at 35,000 feet.
There's something about being in the air that loosens the official script a little.
Es que el viaje del Papa es muy organizado.
The thing is, the Pope's trip is very organized.
Extraordinarily organized.
There's a small army of Vatican staff who plan these visits months in advance.
Security, logistics, Mass venues that can hold hundreds of thousands of people.
It's like touring with a major rock band, but with more Latin and fewer guitars.
Bueno, la misa tiene mucha gente en África.
Well, the Mass has a lot of people in Africa.
The outdoor Masses in Africa are extraordinary events.
When Francis visited the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2023, the open-air Mass in Kinshasa drew something like a million people.
It's one of the largest gatherings of human beings anywhere on Earth.
A ver, la Iglesia en África es joven y activa.
Well, the Church in Africa is young and active.
Young and active.
The average age of a Catholic in Africa is dramatically lower than in Europe or North America.
And the music, the liturgy, the energy of African Catholicism is something genuinely different.
It's not the quiet, slightly apologetic Catholicism you sometimes find in a half-empty church in rural France.
La verdad es que en España la iglesia es más tranquila.
The truth is that in Spain the church is quieter.
More reserved, yes.
And I think there's a real conversation to be had inside the Church about that cultural shift, because the African Church is often more conservative on social issues, more theologically traditional.
Which creates some interesting internal tensions.
Mira, los obispos africanos tienen ideas diferentes.
Look, African bishops have different ideas.
They do, and they've been vocal about it.
On questions like same-sex marriage or the ordination of women, African bishops have pushed back hard against any liberalizing moves.
So when Leo XIV travels to Africa, he's also navigating that internal political landscape.
Es que la Iglesia es grande y complicada.
The thing is, the Church is big and complicated.
1.4 billion people.
Yes, it's complicated.
And travel is one of the tools a pope uses to hold that together, to be seen, to listen, to show that the center in Rome knows that the periphery exists.
Bueno, Roma está lejos de Malabo.
Well, Rome is far from Malabo.
Rome is very far from Malabo.
That's the whole point, in a way.
The extraordinary thing is that this act of travel, which looks like a logistical event, is actually one of the most powerful diplomatic tools the Catholic Church has.
It costs a pope very little and signals everything.
La verdad es que el viaje del Papa da esperanza a la gente.
The truth is the Pope's trip gives people hope.
Hope, visibility, a sense that someone important sees you.
I've interviewed enough people in forgotten corners of the world to know how much that matters.
The visit ends.
The plane flies back to Rome.
But the memory of it, and what it meant to the people who were there, that sticks around for a very long time.