The Vatican highlights the importance of interreligious dialogue after the Leo XIV meeting with the president of Algeria

Pope Leo XIV received this Thursday in private audience from the president of the Democratic and Popular Algerian Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, in the apostolic palace of the Vatican.

It is a political meeting of special relevance, held exceptionally in the middle of summer, within the framework of the official visit of the Algerian president to Rome, which yesterday participated in an intergovernmental meeting with the Italian authorities.

Tebboune is the first Algerian head of state received by a Pope in the Vatican since the visit of Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 1999. In any case, the president had already held a brief encounter with Pope Francis during the G7 summit in Bari, in June 2024, but today he has been the first formal dialogue with Leo XIV.

After the meeting with the Pontiff, the Algerian President met, as usual, with the Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Mons. Daniel Pacho, undersecretary for the multilateral sector of the section for relations with states and international organizations.

According to the brief statement of the Press Office of the Holy See, during the meeting in the Secretary of State, “the importance of good diplomatic relations that exist between the Holy See and Algeria was stated.”

Likewise, some aspects related to “the life of the Church in the country” were addressed, whose presence, although minority, maintains a significant work in the educational, social and charitable fields.

Another central axis of the conversation was the current geopolitical situation in North Africa and in the Mediterranean. Both parties highlighted the relevance of the “interreligious dialogue and cultural cooperation as essential instruments for the promotion of peace and fraternity” in a global context marked by multiple tensions.

Tebboune’s visit to the Vatican occurs after he was received by President Sergio Mattarella and, subsequently, by the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, in the context of the fifth intergovernmental vertex between Italy and Algeria.

During the summit, more than 40 agreements between the two countries and their productive systems were signed, as announced by the Head of the Italian government at a press conference held at the Chigi Palace. “They are agreements that allow us to affirm that the friendship between our two nations, ancient, has never been as special or as solid as now,” said Meloni, as reported by Italian media as the Rai public television network.

Revalue the historical heritage linked to San Agustín

Meloni also announced the will of Italy and Algeria to present a joint candidacy before UNESCO for the valorization of the places linked to San Agustín, the father of the church born in Tagaste (current Algeria) and deceased in Hippo.

“We want to work carefully in this project that not only celebrates our common roots, but also has enormous symbolic strength, especially if we consider that today the Church is guided by the first Augustinian Pope in history,” said Meloni.