Pope's visit to Africa

Pope Francis visits Africa this week for the first time.

If his planned visit to the Central African Republic goes as planned, the church will historically for the first time flag off a Jubilee Year, a period devoted by the Catholic Church to forgiveness and reconciliation in a place other than the Vatican. 

The Argentine pontiff will urge efforts towards peace, social justice and conciliation between Islam and Christianity on his travels to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) during the five-day trip that starts Wednesday.

The 78-year-old, a self-appointed defender of the downtrodden, will give 19 speeches on his 11th foreign trip, meeting with victims of war, child soldiers and AIDS sufferers, as well as those who live in extreme poverty.

The Vatican has however warned the CAR part of the trip could be changed or cancelled entirely if security risks increase.

But Francis is keen for it to go ahead, particularly the planned opening on Sunday of a “Holy Door” in Bangui’s cathedral 10 days before the start of the Jubilee Year.

“If he opens the Holy Door in Bangui, a Jubilee Year will begin for the first time ever in the periphery” rather than the Church’s seat in the Vatican, Giulio Albanese, an African expert with Radio Vatican, told news agency AFP.

“It would be the best summary of the pope’s doctrinal attitude,” of a humble Church dedicated to the poor, he said.

A visit to a camp for people displaced by the conflict, a stop to pray at a mosque in Bangui’s notorious PK5 neighbourhood and a mass in a sports stadium in the capital would be scrapped if concerns escalate, and would disappoint thousands of pilgrims.

Before CAR, Francis will travel to Kenya and Uganda, where a respective 32% and 47% of the populations are Catholic.

It will not be the first papal appearance in either country: the pope’s globe-trotting predecessor John Paul II travelled to Kenya three times, while Uganda holds the honour of having been the first African country to be visited by a pope, with Paul VI going in 1964.

On his first visit, Francis is expected to criticise inequality and corruption within all spheres of life, from politics to the Church.

The fight to tackle poverty will dominate both his trip to Kenya’s vast Kangemi slum, a multi-ethnic shanty town home to some 100,000 people and a Ugandan charity centre in Nalukolongo.

“The problem of social exclusion is serious in both countries. In Kenya, for example, 75% of the wealth is owned by one percent of the population,” Albanese said.

In Uganda, he will honour Christian martyrs persecuted for religious, cultural, political or sexual motives, celebrating a mass to commemorate the first African saints—22 young men burned alive in 1886 by royal order because they refused to renounce their faith or become sexual slaves.

Western observers are calling the visit the riskiest of his papacy, a concern that informs big security operations, but for millions of African Catholics, it will be a period of unbridled joy.