This morning (Monday) Pope Francis visited the Grand Mosque of Koudoukou in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, meeting with the city’s Muslim community.
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About 15% of the country’s population is Muslim, according to the CIA World Factbook, with the remainder subscribing to Christian or indigenous beliefs.
“We would like him to stay with us for one more week…but we bless the Lord”, enthused Bangui resident Iness Nguemale.
The landlocked Central African Republic descended into bloodshed after longtime Christian leader Francois Bozize was ousted by rebels from the mainly Muslim Seleka force in March 2013.
The visit by Pope Francis to Bangui was the first time the pontiff has visited an active war zone.
About 200 men seated inside the mosque welcomed the Pope, who told the chief imam that Muslims and Christians were brothers and must behave as such.
“Christians and Muslims and members of traditional religions have lived peacefully for many years”, he said, adding, “Together, we say no to hatred, to vengeance and violence especially that committed in the name of a religion or God”. “God is peace, salam“.
“The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the twentieth century, struck your own Armenian people”, he said, quoting a declaration signed in 2001 by Pope John Paul II and Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians.
Some Muslims are living in the mosque after being forced out of their homes by the violence.
“We thought the whole world had abandoned us, but not him”. He was not without heavy security though, including armed peacekeepers standing guard in the central mosque’s minarets high above the crowds. At the edge of the district, armed Muslim rebels stood in front of wooden barricades, watching for any threat from Christian vigilante groups. When he was warned not to embark on his six-day journey to Kenya, Uganda and the C.A.R. out of safety concerns following the Paris attacks, he quipped that the only thing he was afraid of in Africa was mosquitos. After celebrating mass in a sports stadium, Francis departed for Rome.
The message seemed to have found its mark, with Muslim rebels joining tens of thousands of people watching the papal mass at the capital’s Barthelemy Boganda Stadium. Two pickup trucks pulled up in the middle of the crowd shortly before the pope’s arrival and a group of Muslim vigilantes from PK5 leapt out, wearing T-shirts bearing the pope’s image, as people cheered and – referring to the conflict – shouted “it’s over”.
There, Francis was greeted by believers who packed into its 20,000 seats or onto the soccer pitch, dancing and singing.
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Recalling the upcoming national consultations, the Holy Father said, “We can not fail to express hope that the forthcoming national consultations will provide the country with leaders capable of bringing Central Africans together, thus becoming symbols of national unity rather than merely representatives of one or another faction”.
