Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Algeria has been billed as a homecoming for the first pope from the Order of St. Augustine to the place where Augustine himself, a giant of the early Church, preached the Gospel.
But after Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Sunday that Leo was “weak on crime” and “catering to the Radical Left,” the pontiff’s identity as an Augustinian has taken on wider significance.
Some theologians argue that Leo’s understanding of Augustine’s teachings has shaped his young papacy and informed his strong response to Mr. Trump’s comments as well as his earlier denunciation of the conflict in the Middle East.
“I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. And that’s what I believe I am called here to do,” the pope said while speaking to journalists traveling on the plane with him to Africa, where he arrived on Monday.
Asked specifically about Mr. Trump’s comments on Truth Social, Leo said: “It’s ironic — the name of the site itself. Say no more.”
Kevin Hughes, a professor of theology at Villanova University, said Leo’s words hark back to specific elements of the teaching of Augustine, particularly in his monumental work, “The City of God.”
In that book, Augustine argued the church should remain on good terms with secular authorities but must speak out when biblical values were under threat, for example when the rights of the most vulnerable were trampled on.
In addressing the president, the pope was motivated not to challenge secular power per se but to speak out because, as the leader of the Catholic Church, he had the authority and “the obligation to proclaim the gospel,” the professor said.
The Pope’s schedule on Tuesday, the second day of his visit to Algeria, includes the ruins of Hippo, where Augustine, one of Christianity’s most important theologians, was bishop starting in around 395 A.D. It will also including meetings with Augustinian friars and nuns and a visit to the Catholic basilica that overlooks the ruins in the modern city of Annaba.
Leo’s decision at 26 to take the vows as an Augustinian friar profoundly shaped his outlook as a priest. Most priests join a diocese, but as an Augustinian, the Rev. Robert Prevost of St. Louis dedicated himself to the values of community, poverty, contemplation and pastoral service.
Augustine is perhaps best known for an autobiographical work, “Confessions,” which details his conversion to Christianity after an immoral youth. He preached many sermons in Hippo and wrote a guide to religious life, which commits Christians to “live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God.”
Father Prevost’s doctoral dissertation examined the role of authority in the order and, drawing on Augustine’s work, said there was no room for self-aggrandizement in leadership.
In a homily on Palm Sunday, Leo said that God rejects the prayers of “those who wage war.” He did not mention Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth by name, but his words were interpreted as a veiled rejoinder to Mr. Hegseth, who invoked the Bible when he asked Americans to pray for a military victory in the Middle East.
Leo’s message drew on Augustine, who said that scripture should be interpreted from a perspective of charity and mercy, Karen E. Park, a historian of American Catholicism, wrote in an essay for the National Catholic Register.
As a young friar, Leo went to Peru as a missionary in 1985, working for more than a decade at the Augustinian mission in the northwestern town of Chulucanas.
From there, he moved to more senior roles at the Augustinian mission in the city of Trujillo, where he was also a professor of canon law and theology. Between 2001 and 2013, Leo led the Augustinians, as prior general, and two years later Pope Francis named him a cardinal.
In his first address to the crowd at St Peter’s after his election last May, Leo proclaimed his allegiance to the order: “I am an Augustinian, a son of Saint Augustine.”
Experts said he would promote missionary work as pope, building on his experience in Peru, and some argued that Augustinian teaching underlies his stance on political issues.
The Augustinian community has fewer than 3,000 friars and nuns worldwide. The most prominent Augustinian before Leo was Martin Luther, who was later expelled from the order and the church for leading the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century.
Soon after his election, Leo returned to the headquarters of the order at the Vatican for lunch with his fellow friars. But for the most part, the Augustinians have avoided the attention that has flowed from having a pontiff emerge from their ranks.
Augustinians have embraced the moment with joy but seek to focus on the community’s core values, said the Rev. Martin Davakan, the order’s assistant secretary general. “The election invites us to return more deeply to the heart of our vocation,” he said in an interview. “Interiority, fraternity, the search for truth, love for the Church and service to the people of God.”
Matthew Mpoke Bigg is a London-based reporter on the Live team at The Times, which covers breaking and developing news.
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