How Africa’s Saint Augustine Shapes Pope Leo’s Message

Pope Leo XIV’s emphasis on love, humility, dialogue, and world peace reflects the enduring influence of Saint Augustine, the fourth-century theologian born in present-day Algeria. According to the historian Catherine Conybeare, Augustine’s African origins deserve greater recognition in the history of Western thought. The saint was a rhetorician and philosopher who rose to the emperor’s court in Milan, converted to Christianity, and spent the rest of his life as bishop of Hippo, now Annaba. His teachings challenged the pursuit of domination, warning that the desire to control others ultimately corrupts those who seek power. Leo, the first pope from the Augustinian order, shares Augustine’s emphasis on love, intellectual humility, and questioning rather than dogmatic certainty.