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Pope Francis

BANGUI/KAMPALA.- Pope Francis arrived in the Central African Republic yesterday, with Catholic as well as Muslim representatives welcoming him at Bangui airport in the hope that he would promote reconciliation in the country torn by inter-religious strife. “The Holy Father has not come to Central Africa for the Catholics, but for Central Africans. It is a good sign of a reconciliation between Muslims and Central Africans,” said El Adji Tchakpabrede, a representative of the country’s Muslim community.

Pope Francis was welcomed by interim President Catherine Samba-Panza.

Among the crowd that gathered to see the Pope, many expressed hope that he would help to reconcile Christians and Muslims. CAR has suffered sectarian violence since mainly Muslim Seleka rebels overthrew president Francois Bozize, a Christian, in March 2013. Thousands have been killed, and nearly one million people were displaced at the height of the conflict in early 2014.

There was concern that extremists from either side could use the papal visit to break the tense calm and instigate new violence. Pope Francis was expected to use the Pope-mobile during his visit, despite concern that local authorities would not be able to guarantee his security.

Local security forces were expected to be backed up by more than 10 000 UN peacekeepers and French troops present in the country. The Pope came to CAR after visiting Kenya and Uganda, where he celebrated masses drawing hundreds of thousands of people.

Pope Francis’s African tour is his 11th trip abroad since he became pope in 2013.

Africa is home to an estimated 180 million Catholics, and the numbers is growing faster than anywhere else in the world. Meanwhile, in Uganda Pope Francis on Saturday held a mass youth rally and honoured martyred Christians on his landmark trip to Africa, which he dubbed “the continent of hope”.

The 78-year-old pontiff was greeted by wild cheers and singing at a shrine to the martyrs at Namugongo, just outside the capital Kampala, that honours more than 40 Christians who were executed in the 19th century for refusing to recant their faith.

“Pope Francis we love you!”, young Christians chanted at a youth rally at the Kololo grounds in Kampala, as thousands danced to pumping music, cheering as the pontiff leaned out of the pope-mobile to kiss babies.

Over 100,000 people had waited from before dawn at the open-air shrine to attend the mass, a highlight of his visit to Uganda, the second leg of his trip after Kenya, and before travelling to war-torn Central African Republic (CAR) on Sunday.

A total of 45 Catholics and Protestants, many of them youngsters working as royal pages, were executed by King Mwanga of Buganda – a 19th century kingdom that was located in the south of present-day Uganda – between 1885 and 1887.

At issue was their refusal to comply with the king’s sexual advances towards them and other young boys in the court. “Today, we recall with gratitude the sacrifice of the Uganda martyrs,” Francis said at the Namugongo shrine where 26 of them were burned alive on June 3, 1886.

“Not only were their lives threatened but so too were the lives of the younger boys under their care,” he said. “They were fearless in bringing Christ to others, even at the cost of their lives.” – dpa/AFP/HR.