Pope keen for Africa trip to go ahead
by Agency Staff,
2015-11-23 05:49:06.0
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis heads to Africa this week for the riskiest trip of his papacy, defying danger with an open-topped popemobile and visits to a slum, refugee camp and mosque despite security fears following jihadist attacks.
The Argentinian pontiff will urge efforts towards peace, social justice and conciliation between Islam and Christianity on his travels to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) during the five-day trip from Wednesday.
His bodyguards will be working overtime in a region riddled with jihadist violence and following a spate of deadly attacks from France to Turkey and Mali by gunmen claiming to be acting in the name of Islam.
The 78-year-old, a self-appointed defender of the downtrodden, will give 19 speeches on his 11th foreign trip, meeting victims of war, child soldiers and AIDS sufferers, as well as those who live in extreme poverty.
The Vatican has warned the CAR part of the trip could be changed or cancelled if security risks increase.
But Pope Francis is keen for it to go ahead, particularly the planned opening on Sunday of a "Holy Door" in Bangui’s cathedral 10 days before the start of the Jubilee Year, a period devoted by the Catholic Church to forgiveness and reconciliation.
"If he opens the Holy Door in Bangui, a Jubilee Year will begin for the first time ever in the periphery" rather than the church’s seat in the Vatican, Giulio Albanese, an African expert with Radio Vatican, said.
"It would be the best summary of the pope’s doctrinal attitude," of a humble church dedicated to the poor, he said.
It may not happen: Vatican police have warned the schedule could change and sources say CAR’s interim President Catherine Samba-Panza could cut the visit to a few hours in Bangui airport under the gaze of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers. A visit to a camp for people displaced by the conflict, a stop to pray at a mosque in Bangui’s PK5 neighbourhood and a mass in a sports stadium in the capital would be scrapped, disappointing pilgrims.
Before CAR, Pope Francis will travel to Kenya and Uganda, where a respective 32% and 47% of the populations are Catholic. It will not be the first papal appearance in either country: the pope’s predecessor John Paul II travelled to Kenya three times, while Uganda was the first African country to be visited by a pope, with Paul VI going in 1964. The fight to tackle poverty will dominate both his trip to Kenya’s vast Kangemi slum — a multi-ethnic shantytown that is home to 100,000 people — and a Ugandan charity centre in Nalukolongo.
"The problem of social exclusion is serious in both countries. In Kenya, for example, 75% of the wealth is owned by 1% of the population," Mr Albanese said.
With international climate change talks in Paris just around the corner, all eyes will be on the pontiff’s speech in Nairobi to the UN’s Environment Programme and Human Settlements Programme. Pope Francis is a fierce environmentalist and is unlikely to temper his words when discussing global warming and the exploitation of the Earth for profit, tightening the screws on the world’s political leaders before crunch time at the talks, which begin on November 30.
In Uganda, he will honour Christian martyrs persecuted for religious, cultural, political or sexual motives, celebrating a mass to commemorate the first African saints — 22 young men burned alive in 1886 by royal order because they refused to renounce their faith or become sexual slaves.
AFP
Pope Francis. Picture: AFP PHOTO/TIZIANA FABI
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis heads to Africa this week for the riskiest trip of his papacy, defying danger with an open-topped popemobile and visits to a slum, refugee camp and mosque despite security fears following jihadist attacks.
The Argentinian pontiff will urge efforts towards peace, social justice and conciliation between Islam and Christianity on his travels to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) during the five-day trip from Wednesday.
His bodyguards will be working overtime in a region riddled with jihadist violence and following a spate of deadly attacks from France to Turkey and Mali by gunmen claiming to be acting in the name of Islam.
The 78-year-old, a self-appointed defender of the downtrodden, will give 19 speeches on his 11th foreign trip, meeting victims of war, child soldiers and AIDS sufferers, as well as those who live in extreme poverty.
The Vatican has warned the CAR part of the trip could be changed or cancelled if security risks increase.
But Pope Francis is keen for it to go ahead, particularly the planned opening on Sunday of a "Holy Door" in Bangui’s cathedral 10 days before the start of the Jubilee Year, a period devoted by the Catholic Church to forgiveness and reconciliation.
"If he opens the Holy Door in Bangui, a Jubilee Year will begin for the first time ever in the periphery" rather than the church’s seat in the Vatican, Giulio Albanese, an African expert with Radio Vatican, said.
"It would be the best summary of the pope’s doctrinal attitude," of a humble church dedicated to the poor, he said.
It may not happen: Vatican police have warned the schedule could change and sources say CAR’s interim President Catherine Samba-Panza could cut the visit to a few hours in Bangui airport under the gaze of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers. A visit to a camp for people displaced by the conflict, a stop to pray at a mosque in Bangui’s PK5 neighbourhood and a mass in a sports stadium in the capital would be scrapped, disappointing pilgrims.
Before CAR, Pope Francis will travel to Kenya and Uganda, where a respective 32% and 47% of the populations are Catholic. It will not be the first papal appearance in either country: the pope’s predecessor John Paul II travelled to Kenya three times, while Uganda was the first African country to be visited by a pope, with Paul VI going in 1964. The fight to tackle poverty will dominate both his trip to Kenya’s vast Kangemi slum — a multi-ethnic shantytown that is home to 100,000 people — and a Ugandan charity centre in Nalukolongo.
"The problem of social exclusion is serious in both countries. In Kenya, for example, 75% of the wealth is owned by 1% of the population," Mr Albanese said.
With international climate change talks in Paris just around the corner, all eyes will be on the pontiff’s speech in Nairobi to the UN’s Environment Programme and Human Settlements Programme. Pope Francis is a fierce environmentalist and is unlikely to temper his words when discussing global warming and the exploitation of the Earth for profit, tightening the screws on the world’s political leaders before crunch time at the talks, which begin on November 30.
In Uganda, he will honour Christian martyrs persecuted for religious, cultural, political or sexual motives, celebrating a mass to commemorate the first African saints — 22 young men burned alive in 1886 by royal order because they refused to renounce their faith or become sexual slaves.
AFP
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