The pope’s visit to the mosque was the highlight of a five-day, three-nation African tour that included stops in Kenya and Uganda. “Together, we must say no to hatred, to revenge and to violence, particularly that violence which is perpetrated in the name of a religion or of God himself”, he said to his mostly Muslim audience.
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A group of Muslim rebels joined thousands of people at the mass at the Barthelemy Boganda stadium.
Francis, who visited Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, also said the continent was “a martyr of exploitation” by wealthy countries who lust after its natural resources and try to impose Western values instead of concentrating on development. It will prove a positive influence and help extinguish the smouldering tensions which prevent Africans from benefitting from that development which they deserve and to which they have a right.
According to UNICEF estimates, more than two million children have been affected by the violence which first broke out in December 2012 and which reached crisis levels in December 2013 following clashes that led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands in the capital, Bangui.
“We have to combat it”, he said.
Armed UN peacekeepers were positioned on the mosque’s minarets and a helicopter hovered overhead.
The pontiff’s two-day visit to the former French colony has meant unprecedented security measures and takes place amid a surge in violence. At the edge of the district, armed Muslim rebels stood alert in front of wooden barricades, watching carefully for any threat from Christian vigilante groups.
“It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good”, he said.
When asked about the so-called Vatileaks trial, the Pope said he “hasn’t lost any sleep” over the trial investigating leaks that revealed alleged financial mismanagement in the Church.
Before the fighting drove away many Muslims, Central African Republic was 37 percent Catholic and about 15 percent Muslim, with traditional faiths and Protestants making up the rest, Vatican figures show.
The 78-year-old’s words of peace and hope – and the fact that he actually visited the country despite significant security concerns – struck a chord with locals and drew pledges of peace and forgiveness.
“I don’t like getting into questions or reflections that are so technical when people are dying because they don’t have water or food or housing”, he told the German reporter, according to the AP news agency.
“If humanity doesn’t change course, misery, tragedies, [and] wars will continue, children will keep dying from hunger and injustice”, he said, pointedly asking what the small percentage of elites “that has in its hands 80 percent of the world’s wealth” thinks about the situation.
Women carry their belongings as they disembark from trucks carrying internally displaced Muslims, after traveling in convoy escorted by the African Union operation in CAR (MISCA) on a four-day journey from the capital Bangui, at the transit IDP center in the outskirts of the Central African Republic-Chad border town of Sido, April 30, 2014.
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He dismissed this however as “not the problem” and said it reminded him of the question asked Jesus, “Tell me, teacher, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
