Sawt Falasteen - Pope plans trip to Africa, starting with Algeria

"I hope to make a trip to Africa, which could be my next trip," the US pope said during a press conference aboard the papal plane during his return from a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon.

"Personally, I hope to go to Algeria to visit the places from the life of Saint Augustine," he said, in reference to the fifth-century saint from the North African country.

Leo, who was elected in May, belongs to the Augustinian order, which was founded in the 13th century and has nearly 3,000 members in around 50 countries.

Such a visit would allow the head of the Catholic Church to "continue the discourse of dialogue and bridge-building between the Christian and the Muslim worlds", he said.

"The figure of Saint Augustine plays an important role as a bridge because in Algeria he is highly respected as a son of the nation," the 70-year-old pontiff said.

A trip to Africa could also include visits to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, a Vatican source told AFP.

Leo, leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics, also said he would "very much" like to visit "Latin America, Argentina, Uruguay", as well as Peru, where he spent more than 20 years working as a missionary.

A.Suleiman--SF-PST