Pope Francis is celebrating Mass in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands of Ugandan faithful.
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Thousands of pilgrims braved rain to spend the night holding a vigil near the martyrs’ shrines and there were long lines of pilgrims still trying to access the shrine as Pope Francis addressed the crowds on Saturday morning.
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The interim president of Central African Republic has thanked Pope Francis for his “lesson in courage” in coming to the conflict-ridden country, saying his presence showed the “victory of faith over fear”. “I hope that all Central Africans can see peace”, he said.
He called for the country’s people to recognize their “unity in diversity” – and not allow religious differences to divide them.
“We’ve also spoken to a lot of people here who aren’t Catholics …”
BANGUI, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Protected by the heaviest security ever seen on his trips, Pope Francis on Sunday preached reconciliation in the divided Central African Republic, a nation racked by bloodshed between Muslims and Christians.
Bangui is the final leg of his first African trip that has already taken him to Kenya and Uganda.
There were concerns that Francis would cancel his trip to Bangui given the latest wave of violence that has left at least 100 people dead since late September.
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Francis was driven in to the presidential palace, for much of the way in an open popemobile, and then to a camp housing almost 4,000 people displaced by the violence. After the martyrs converted to Christianity, which forbids homosexuality, they began rebuffing the purported sexual advances of Mwanga, and he had them killed when they refused to renounce their faith. As many as 2 million people have been expected to attend the Mass, together with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the president of South Sudan & the descendant of the king who ordered the martyrs killed. Churches run many schools and hospitals around the country.
