While in Uganda, Pope Francis is set to touch on corruption and poverty, as well as trying to give hope to younger Christians.
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Pope Francis will leave Uganda on Sunday for the Central African Republic, which has been gripped by cycles of violence and lawlessness that has pitted mostly Muslim rebels against Christian militias since 2013.
For hours, thousands of people have been treated to a blend of tribal dancing and African rock at a disused Kampala airstrip.
At the shrine mass, Francis urged worshippers to use the martyrs’ example of faith to be missionaries at home by taking care of “the elderly, the poor, the widowed and the abandoned”.
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.
“Overcome difficulties, transform the negative into positive, and pray”, Francis told the young crowd. Francis also heard from Emmanuel Odokonyero, who was abducted by Uganda’s brutal Lord’s Resistance Army and was held captive and tortured for three months before he escaped. The executions were ordered by King Buganda Mwanga II, who was concerned about the spread of Christianity.
Pope Francis has left Uganda and is on his way to Central African Republic, the third and last leg of his pilgrimage to Africa.
Government spokesman Dominique Said Panguindji, however, said the authorities were doing everything necessary to keep order, including training and deploying thousands of boy and girl scouts to cordon off the pope’s route through Bangui.
He did get to see the pope.
In preparation for his visit, workers laboured day and night fixing the narrow road leading to the shrine in Namugongo.
The Mass marks the 50th anniversary of the martyrs’ canonisation.
Children in school uniform are among those lining up to enter the two shrines.
Many hope that the pope’s message of peace and reconciliation can encourage longer-term stability in this nation of 4.8 million.
He says: “I am praying for peace, especially during this time of elections”.
Catholic devotees cheer as Pope Francis arrives to lead a mass at the Kololo ceremonial grounds in Kampala, Uganda, November 28, 2015. “They are so noteworthy “cause they sacrificed their life “cause of their religion”, stated Beneh Ssanyu, 27, who showed-off the mud encrusting her sandals & trousers – proof of her 1 p.m. Friday. arrival in that scored her a prime front-row seat”.
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Francis began the day with a Mass before an estimated 300,000 people honoring the 45 Anglican and Catholic martyrs who were burned alive rather than renounce their faith during an anti-Christian persecution in the late 1800s.
