CAR: Pope Visits mosque, says Christians and Muslims are brothers

During his stop at the Central African Republican, the pope visited the nation’s sole pediatric hospital. The pope answered questions from journalists for about an hour.

Asked about his impressions of his first visit to Africa, Pope Francis said he was struck by the crowds, the joy, and the “very great sense of welcome” he encountered.

Francis met Muslim leaders at the Koudoukou mosque in the Muslim enclave, PK5-the only remaining Muslim residential neighborhood in the capital-which is blockaded by Christian militias, preventing residents from leaving. Pope Benedict XVI reflected that “a precious treasure is to be found in the soul of Africa”.

Standing slightly stooped with a microphone to his mouth and hand held horizontally, Pope Francis has inspired a wave of hilarious rap lyrics with this ideal “rap star pose”.

PK5, where most of the Muslims who have not fled the city have now sought refuge, has been cut off from the rest of the capital, Bangui, for the past two months.

The pope acknowledged that condoms are one method of prevention, saying that the Church was faced with a perplexity of whether to follow the fifth commandment (Thou shalt not kill) “or that sexual relations are open to life”.

He called fundamentalism “a disease of all religions”, including the Roman Catholic Church. “By coming [here] he can suggest to us ways and approaches to tackle these problems in a human way”, Father Gichure said. “I say this because it is my church”. He described Africa as a “martyr of exploitation”.

Paris climate conference is a “now or never” moment, with the planet “at the limits of suicide”. By the end of the year, an armed militia opposed to the rebels attacked the capital, setting into motion the worst sectarian violence the country had ever seen. “We can’t continue this”, he said.

On Monday, Redepouzou entered the stadium in his wheelchair decorated in the flags of Central African Republic and was approached by the pope as he made his way around the track inside. People are dying because of a lack of clean water and adequate food.

During Monday’s visit to the Bangui mosque, Francis urged the country’s Christians and Muslims to embrace each other as brothers.

“We are an abandoned, murdered, forgotten people”, the prelate told Vatican Radio.

To say the world’s economy has put profits and not people at the center and to denounce “the idolatry of the god money”, he said, “is not communism”. When asked about the Vatileaks trial, Pope Francis claimed not to have “lost any sleep”. “For all of us are God’s children”, Francis said in his pre-trip message.

“Francis took off his shoes, went there to pray and be close to Muslims”, the archbishop said.

As Francis spoke Sunday, it became clear that he intended his visit as a way of kick-starting reconciliation efforts, and shining a light on a conflict that much of the world has ignored or forgotten. The trip is expected in late February. Recalling that his mother, a devout Catholic, was kicked out of her village prayer group because she had raised a gay son, he said he would say that parents of gays should not be victimized or made to “doubt themselves as parents or as Christians”. “A part of us is part of you”.