Pope Francis Starts First Africa Trip

Young people, he said, “are your greatest resource and our most promising hope for a future of solidarity, peace and progress”.

The final stopover in the volatile Central African Republic has raised concern for some of the religious leader’s handlers.

The situation remains volatile in the country – including in the capital Bangui where Francis is due to spend a little over 24 hours – and the insecurity may cause the vehicle leg of the pope’s Africa tour to be cancelled.

During his time in Bangui, Central African Republic’s capital, Francis is expected to visit the city’s main mosque, attend an inter-faith meeting, celebrate Mass and go to an evening prayer vigil. The journey marks the pontiff’s first trip to the continent since his election to the papacy.

Gay sex is illegal in several African countries, including both Kenya and Uganda, and discrimination against homosexuals is both widespread and, in some cases, encouraged by church leaders. He also to deliver what Lombardi called a “major address” to United Nations offices in Nairobi, Kenya Nov. 26.

Pope Francis’ scheduled visit to Africa is expected to last from Wednesday, November 25 to Friday, November 27, 2015.

“A war can be justified, so to speak, with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war – piecemeal though that war may be – a little here, a little there, and everywhere, there is no justification”, the Pope said.

On Monday, a new poll published by Infotrak showed that nine out of 10 Kenyans, Catholic or otherwise, were looking forward to Francis’ visit.

The bishop said via email he thinks the pope might stress the need for Kenyan priests and religious to be “living authentically and faithfully their consecration, and to the whole Kenyan church to make a real option for the poor”.

The challenge for the pope, who has described the violence flaring in Paris and elsewhere as section of a piecemeal “third world war”, will be to appeal for people to “rise above their mankind” by resisting the desire to harden their attitudes, said Jo-Renee Formicola, a papal pro and political science professor at Seton Hall University in America. Forty-two-year-old Mary Wairimu told Anadolu Agency that the visit by Pope Francis is very significant in that it will unite all Kenyans irrespective of their religion.

Francis is expected to refer to the example of those martyrs-45 Anglicans and Catholics killed during the persecution of Christians between 1885 and 1887. Nigerian nun Bernadette Duru says the African church hierarchy is indifferent to people in rural areas.

“Jesus never condemned anybody so that’s what he’s also doing”, she said.

“I believe Pope Francis when his message might be about us not condemning the homosexuals, but us trying to help them”, he said, “because you get some of them who were just trained”.

So the pope is coming in a few days and a lot of people are wondering…Where do I get to watch the pope?