Will the Pope Challenge Homophobia in Uganda?

MultiChoice Africa is set to bring DStv and GOtv subscribers the live coverage of Pope Francis’ first visit to Africa since he was elected Head of State of the Vatican City, and 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

“I believe that Kenyans, including Muslims, will come out in large numbers to welcome the Pope”, Nado said. But, he added, “As every wise person would, we’re monitoring the situation”.

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

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

“The pope is so interested in reaching out to the most vulnerable wherever he is and Uganda has shown the world that LGBT people are the most vulnerable in its society”, he said.

Barbara, whose diocese is about 300 miles east of Nairobi, said he also hoped Francis would use his meeting with the Kenyan episcopate to “speak about unity among the Bishops in front of national problems”.

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”.

Francis will land in Uganda the afternoon of November 27, where he will meet with President Yoweri Museveni, who has led the country since 1986.

The shrine holds a special place in local Catholicism as it is dedicated to a group of Christians – referred to as the Uganda Martyrs – who were murdered on the orders of a local king eager to thwart the influence of Christianity. “Those who suffer the most from corruption are the most vulnerable-the poor who aren’t getting an education or health care or welfare because of the misuse of public funds”.

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

The Pope’s arrival in Uganda is likely to attract pilgrims around the world from as far afield as Australia and the United States but Mgr Kauta hopes that the visit will also encourage inter-religious dialogue with the Muslim community already welcoming the Pope too.

In all three countries he is due to visit, Francis will find Christian communities on the defensive in the face of Islamic radicalism. “Most Kenyans want to see who the Pope is and I believe that no religion bars anyone from being curious”.

This is Francis’ 11th trip outside Italy since becoming pontiff in March 2013.

The pope’s upcoming trip to the country, where same-sex acts are illegal, has many wondering if he will address the issue of widespread and sometimes violent homophobia.

The Coast region’s 52 parishes have organised one of the biggest pilgrimage caravans travelling to Nairobi to welcome the Pope, with about 3,000 Catholic faithful expected to leave Mombasa today on a road journey comprising more than 50 buses.