Church in Algeria maintains a vibrant call for a female presence in Tamanrasset, as expressed by Bishop Diego Sarrió Cucarella, of the Diocese of Laghouat-Ghardaïa, who hopes the recent visit of Pope Leo XIV may help address administrative obstacles preventing more religious sisters from moving to the country. There is something about the desert that has always attracted those who long for Christ, inspiring St Charles de Foucauld to leave his native France and establish himself in the Sahara to be a witness of Christ among the local Muslim population.
Years later, the house of the Little Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Charles de Foucauld in Tamanrasset has been restored with the support of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), but it currently houses only one religious sister. Bishop Diego Sarrió Cucarella states:
“The call for a female presence in Tamanrasset remains very much alive. The house, rebuilt with the support of ACN, is ready and waiting for those – religious or laywomen – who wish to inhabit it with a faithful, humble presence that is open to encounters in the heart of the desert. It is ready to become a place of fraternal, simple, and Gospel-centred life, at the service of communion”.
The bishop explains that there is no lack of willing women to live in near-complete isolation in the Sahara; rather, the problem is exclusively bureaucratic, as interested candidates have been unable to obtain entry visas:
“To see sincere desires arise to come and share our life in the Sahara, only to then see how they cannot be fulfilled for administrative reasons, causes us true suffering. In a context like ours, marked by balances that are sometimes delicate, we learn to live with these limitations with patience and trust, whilst simultaneously maintaining hope”.
Mission and pastoral fruits of the Church in Algeria
Bishop Cucarella hopes that the visit of Pope Leo XIV will open paths that currently seem impassable and inspire others to discover the Church’s reality in the country. During his address at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers, the Holy Father explicitly cited Charles de Foucauld, recalling how he understood his vocation primarily as a praying presence in the midst of others.
The Christian population in Algeria is small, consisting mostly of foreign African students, migrants, and oil industry workers. Bishop Cucarella is assisted by 14 priests, 19 religious sisters, and five brothers in serving this disparate community. As he told ACN, the fruits of this presence are discreet yet deeply meaningful:
“In our context, immersed in the heart of a predominantly Muslim population, this visit has revived within these small communities – often very far apart from one another – the awareness of fully belonging to the universal Church, which sustains us in prayer and communion”.
“This visit also deeply confirms our mission: to be present in a Gospel-based logic of relationship, service, and closeness. As the Pope recalled during his meeting with the Church at the Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers, ‘faith does not isolate, but opens us up; it unites us, but does not create confusion; it brings us closer, without homogenizing, and fosters true fraternity’”.
