The memory of the martyrs of the "Black Decade" was present from this very first day of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Algeria: in Bab El Oued, the Pope made a symbolic stop, away from the cameras, to pay tribute to them.
Then in his fourth and final address at the end of a busy first day on his four-country Africa visit, Pope Leo spoke about the martyrs of Algeria, some of whom are better known from the movie Of Gods and Men.
"Their blood is a living seed that never ceases to bear fruit," he said.
Pope Leo XIV’s 48-hour visit to Algeria is not centered on the memory of the martyrs of the “Black Decade,” those 19 Catholic victims of the Algerian Civil War who were beatified in Oran in 2018. But on his first day in Algiers on Monday, the Pope paid tribute to them by making a private visit to the community center run by the Augustinian Missionary Sisters in the working-class neighborhood of Bab El Oued. It was there that two Spanish nuns from the Augustinian congregation, Sister Esther Paniagua Alonso and Sister Caridad Álvarez Martín, lived; both were murdered on October 23, 1994, while on their way to Mass at the Little Sisters of Jesus, a short distance away. These missionaries had chosen to stay despite calls to leave amid the turmoil and violence of the civil war.
“No one can take our lives because we have already given them,” Sister Esther wrote, in prophetic words. The Pope, who was himself a missionary in Peru and refused to leave the country during the turbulent political and social period of the 1980s, stopped to remember them, behind closed doors, without cameras or microphones. After a moment of prayer with the sisters at the residence, the Pope remembered their martyred sisters and the martyrs beatified alongside them – including the monks of Tibhirine – seeing in them “a precious presence on this earth” – as he later reiterated when meeting Catholics at the basilica. According to a Vatican statement, Pope Leo XIV emphasised the Augustinian vocation to “bear witness even unto martyrdom.”
Respect for the dignity of every person
Within the walls of what is now a “Centre of Welcome and Friendship,” the Pope was reunited with his spiritual family – the Augustinians – but also with a long-standing acquaintance: Sister Lourdes Miguelez, a 77-year-old Augustinian whom he has known for some 15 years. The Spanish nun is a survivor of the attack: She was walking behind Sister Esther and Sister Caridad when they were shot dead by the terrorists. It was she who previously welcomed Fr. Robert Prevost, who had come to Algeria as Prior of the Order of Saint Augustine, years before his election as the 267th pope.
During this brief visit, the Pontiff encouraged these nuns – three on site and three others living elsewhere in Algiers – to “promote respect for the dignity of every person” and to “affirm that it is possible to live in peace while valuing differences.”
Today, the centre offers academic support, French and Spanish lessons, as well as craft workshops for women (sewing, crochet, painting, etc.).
As a memento of his visit, the Successor of Peter left the small community of Bab El Oued a glass-inlaid cross, adorned with red stones, like the blood of the martyrs; blue stones, like the sky; and green stones, like hope. This crucifix, engraved with the symbols of the four evangelists, will also remain as a subtle nod, a discreet echo of the bond linking the martyrs of Algeria and the Pope elected on May 8, 2025: the day of their commemoration in the Roman calendar.
In his address to the Christian community, in which he responded to testimonies that were given, he urged the faithful to "prayer, charity, and unity."
Read the full address here.
