En route to Equatorial Guinea from Angola to inaugurate the final leg of his four-nation tour through Africa, Pope Leo XIV praised the example of his predecessor whom he remembered for "truly living out closeness to the most poor." 

Vatican journalist Salvatore Cernuzio's new book, Padre: An Untold Portrait of Pope Francis, is a narrative built from proximity, trust and the unusual, intimate relationship between its author and the late pope.

Since his election last May, Pope Leo XIV has hammered home the theme of unity. But nowhere has that message taken on sharper contours than in Angola, where the long shadow of civil war and stark inequality continues to fracture the nation.