Pope Leo XIV traveled to several countries when he was a prior to the order of San Agustín between 2001 and 2013 and also as a member of the Roman curia since 2023.
Below are some of the countries that the Pope born in Chicago (United States), whose original name is Robert Prevost, visited or settled for pastoral reasons in the last three decades.
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Australia
As a prior of the Augustinians, the future Pope Leo XIV visited Australia in 2002 and 2005.
In 2002, he visited the Agustino Villanova school in Brisbane, capital of Queensland. In 2005, he traveled to Nueva Wales del Sur to visit his brothers and celebrate Mass in the parish of the Holy Spirit, whose pastoral attention is entrusted to the Augustinians, in western Sydney.
South Korea
The Augustinians in Asia Pacific established their community in South Korea in 1985. When he was still a priest with three years of orderly and a young missionary, Father Robert Prevost took a flight to the Asian nation, being on vacation, to support his brothers when they had difficulty establishing the mission in the country, said Fr. John Sullivan, Osa, Osa The Catholic Leader.
Cuba
In 2005, Mons. Emilio Aranguren and Cardinal Jaime Ortega asked the then prior of the Augustinians to return to Cuba, something that happened in 2006 as indicated Vatican News.
In 2008, the future Pope Leo XIV traveled to the island to visit his Augustinian brothers in the Diocese of Holguín, where he could know the reality of the place.
Filipinas
Today Pope Leo XIV traveled to the Philippines in 2002, 2010 and 2012 as a prior general of the Augustinians. On one of those occasions he visited the oldest church in the country, the Basilica of the Holy Child, in Cebu, which houses the famous sanctuary of the Child Jesus.
The Order of San Agustín is recognized in the Philippines as the first group of missionaries that contributed effectively to establish Catholicism as a majority religion in the Asian archipelago.
India
As a prior of the Augustinians, Father Prevost also traveled to India twice, in 2004 and 2006, and visited communities of the order in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the first year he concelebrated the priestly ordination of six Augustinian deacons in the church of San Francisco Javier de Kerala, a state in which a significant number of Indian Catholics belonging to the Syrian-malabar churchCatholic oriental rite.
Indonesia
In 2003, the future Leo XIV traveled to Papua, in Indonesia, to celebrate the anniversary of the Order of San Agustín in the Diocese of Sorong, in Jayapura. During their stay, they told the former leader of the Augustinians about the difficult situation of those who were in the midst of armed conflict and civil disturbances in the Papua region.
Kenia
Today Pope Leo XIV was in Kenya in 2011, 2024 and 2025. During his 2024 visit, then Cardinal Robert Prevost presided over the consecration and dedication of the chapel of the International House of Agustina theology in Nairobi, remembering that the new church is “built on the rock that is our faith” and the need for all Catholics to “live in unity”.
Nigeria
The Nigeria Catholic Network He informed that Pope Leo XIV also visited the African country at least nine times between 2001 and 2016, participating in several meetings in Abuja and other places to establish and consolidate the Nigerian province of the Agustina Order. The September 2016 visit was already being bishop of Chiclayo (Peru).
Peru
Ordered priest on June 19, 1982, Fr. Prevost was sent on mission to northern Peru in 1985, where he was appointed prior local prior of his religious community. During the 1990s he served the Catholics of the Archdiocese of Trujillo as Judicial Vicar and professor of Canon Law, Patristic and Moral Theology at the Seminary of San Carlos and San Marcelo.
He returned to Peru in November 2014, after having been in Chicago and Rome between 1999 and 2014, after being appointed by Pope Francis to direct the Diocese of Chiclayo. In 2020 he was also appointed apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Callao. He remained in Peru until 2023, when he was called by the Pope to work for the Roman curia, where he was finally created Cardinal.
Congo Democratic Republic
In 2009, today Pope Leo XIV opened the Agustina University in Kinshasa, capital of the country. There he spoke about the importance of education and met with families and communities of peoples devastated by war. That same year he also visited his brothers in the province of Bajo Uélé.
Tanzania
The current Pope Leo XIV has visited Tanzania more than five times. The National newspaper Tanzano, Daily News, reported that the newly chosen Pontiff traveled to several places, even making a road trip of approximately 750 kilometers from Songea to Morogoro.
“We got into the same car (in Songea), which he was driving, and we went to Morogoro, where he received the perpetual votes of three of our sisters (nuns) on August 28, 2003,” said Bishop Stephano Musomba to Daily News.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA
Kristina Millare
Kristina Millare is an independent journalist with professional experience in communications in the humanitarian aid sector and development, news journalism, entertainment, politics and government, business and entrepreneurship.