Algeria’s Tense Dance Between Heritage And Religious Freedom
(ANALYSIS) As Algeria tries to assert itself on the international stage as a civilizational bridge, the country’s Christian community continues to face renewed challenges.
In late July, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune traveled to Italy to meet with both Pope Leo XIV and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The latter meeting produced a joint initiative to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for several historic sites in Algeria linked to early Christianity.
Today, Algeria is officially 99% Muslim and a member of both the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The French, Italian and others — some of whom had deep roots in Algeria’s independence in 1962 — are long gone. They left behind more than just beautiful churches but, a growing Christian community in particular among Algeria’s Kabiyle population after decades of French missionary work.
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Algeria’s Christian heritage runs deeper. Roman ruins at Hippo Regius (modern-day Annaba), where St. Augustine lived and died, and Thagaste (Souk Ahras), his birthplace, are among the sites being considered for UNESCO designation.
This year, as a solemn conclave gathered in Rome to elect a successor to Pope Francis, speculation swirled about the possibility of an “African Pope,” reflecting the continent's growing importance in the church. In truth, the Catholic Church has already had three African popes: Victor I, Miltiades and Gelasius I — each believed to be of full or partial Berber origin. Gelasius was chosen shortly after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Christianity did not disappear overnight with the emergence of Islam in what is now Algeria. Much of ancient Numidia (including modern Kabiyla) retained pockets of Christian life after the Arab arrival. One source speaks of a Catholic bishop in Kairouan as late as 1150—a remarkable marker of religious coexistence in a city founded explicitly as an Islamic stronghold.
Tebboune has attempted to conjure some of this history during his Vatican visit, where the state of the Catholic Church in Algeria was reportedly discussed, alongside calls for interfaith dialogue and cultural cooperation.
“They discussed the state of the Catholic Church in Algeria and emphasized the importance of interfaith dialogue and cultural cooperation for global peace,” noted Catholic News Agency in its coverage of the visit.
However, the reality for many present-day Christians in Algeria — particularly among the Berber population where Christianity is growing fastest — remains one whose right to religious freedom is repressed by the state through legal and extra-legal means
The case of Slimane Bouhafs, a prominent Berber Christian and human rights defender, offers a sobering example. The U.S. State Department’s 2023 Report on Religious Freedom described his abduction in 2021: “On August 25, 2021, three men in a black vehicle abducted Bouhafs—Chairman of the St. Augustine Coordination of Christians in Algeria, which defends minority rights and religious freedom—from his home in Tunisia, where he had sought asylum. His whereabouts were unknown for four days.”
Bouhafs, who has faced ongoing persecution for his activism, later said, “Even my retirement pension was disallowed.”
He was eventually sentenced and later released, though the exact circumstances surrounding his forced return to Algeria remain unclear. The Algerian government has not publicly commented on how he was brought back across the border.
The Algerian government has claimed he was linked to the banned Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie. MAK is labelled as a terrorist organization by Algerian authorities in 2021.
The United States State Department has previously rejected that MAK and another religious group in Algeria — the Islamist Rachad movement have any ties to terrorism. The government has a long history of accusing religious minority groups of being a national security threat. The previous Minister of Religious Affairs, Mohamed Aissa repeatedly suggested that the country’s Ahmaddiya Muslim community was a veritable Fifth Column for Israel.
For its part the 2024 version of the USCIRF report noted that: “Authorities continued to close churches and prosecute individuals on religion-based charges, including blasphemy, proselytization, and unauthorized worship. The government also continued to deny religious minority groups, specifically the Evangelical Protestant Association (EPA), authorization to worship collectively as stipulated under the law.”
The report also noted that other minority groups (such as the Sufis and Ahmadis) also face discrimination. The Christian community has been hit particularly hard. Le Figaro reported in January 2024 that at least 42 Protestant churches have been forcibly closed by the Algerian government since 2017. The article likened the situation to that of Laos, where evangelical Christianity is also suppressed.
The future of Algeria’s Christian minority was likely on the table during the recent Vatican meeting. The encounter was historic — it marked the first time the pope had met with an Arab or African head of state. According to several reports, the Pope is considering a visit to Algeria in 2026 to mark the 30th anniversary of the assassination of the Tibhirine monks and Bishop Pierre Claverie by Islamist militants during the civil war. No pope has visited Algeria in the modern era; such a trip would be a major diplomatic and spiritual moment.
During their exchange, Tebboune reportedly offered the pontiff a symbolic olive branch from Saint Augustine’s hometown of Souk Ahras, where, legend has it, the saint himself once planted a tree. While the gesture evoked peace and shared heritage, it also stood in stark contrast to the current reality on the ground.
As that ancient branch risks withering under mounting pressure, the deeper question remains: will Algeria allow new roots of tolerance to grow at home, the same way it seeks to nurture them abroad? Kabyile Christians and minorities across the country wait for an answer.
Joseph Hammond is a former Fulbright fellow in Malawi and a journalist who has reported extensively from Africa, Eurasia and the Middle East. Hammond is also part of the Interfaith Dialogue on Violent Extremism (iDove) at the African Union. He speaks enough Spanish and Arabic to discuss boxing, a sport he treasures.