Pope Francis calls for peace among Christians and Muslims in Central Africa

Pope Francis made a historic visit to the last remaining Muslim neighborhood in Central African Republic’s capital Monday, a move that nearly immediately opened up a part of the divided city troubled for months by retaliatory violence between Muslim and Christian militias.

“We are all brothers, Christians and Muslims”, said Pope Francis, meeting at the Central mosque of Bangui with the Muslim community, to say “no to hatred, to vengeance and violence, especially that committed in the name of a religion or God”. In comments, Francis said that Muslims and Christians are brothers and must treat each other as such.

On a rare trip into the volatile neighborhood known as PK5, the pope recalled how Christians and Muslims had long lived together peacefully in Bangui.

Francis on Sunday visited a camp in Bangui and told its almost 4,000 residents, most of whom were chased from their homes by armed Muslims, that “peace without love, friendship and tolerance is nothing”.

Pope Francis’ first visit to Africa continued in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic (CAR), where he took the biggest risks of his papacy by entering a mosque under siege in the civil war zone.

But it was in Central African Republic, torn apart by brutal violence between mostly Muslim rebels and Christian militias for more than two years, that his visit appeared to have made the most powerful impression.

Since late 2013 and the massacre of early 2014, CAR Muslims have been facing torture and repression and are being forced to convert to Christianity under pain of death by anti-balaka Christian militias.

After celebrating a final Mass before the cheering crowd, the pope took a lap around the stadium in the back of a modified Toyota pick-up before heading to the airport and flying back to Rome. Today, the capital that once had 122,000 Muslims has only around 15,000, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

“The recent events and acts of violence which have shaken your country were not grounded in properly religious motives”, he said, but some have used God’s name as an excuse for their actions, which “disfigures the face of God”.

Francis said his trip would not have been complete had he failed to meet with the Muslim community in PK5.

This was the pope’s first trip to the African continent, a historic visit which lasted six days and began in Kenya. God is peace, God salam.

At the edge of the district, armed Muslim rebels stood alert in front of wooden barricades, watching out for any threat from Christian vigilantes.

But it sent an inspiring message of hope and peace to Christians and Muslims in a nation that has been locked in a cycle of sectarian violence since December 2012.

Chris Stein reported from Bangui, Central African Republic, and Somini Sengupta from NY.

Pope Francis also pointed to slave labor, environmental exploitation and arms trafficking as some of the more significant problems facing humanity.

The Pope also had strong words regarding Africa’s place in the world, calling it a “victim” and a “martyr” that has “always been exploited by other powers”.

The landlocked nation descended into bloodshed more than two years ago after long-time Christian leader Francois Bozize was ousted by rebels from the mainly Muslim Seleka force, triggering the worst crisis since independence in 1960. “I hope it turns out this way and I am praying that it will”, he said.