Pope Francis said his prayer was that all Ugandans “will always prove worthy of the values which have shaped the soul of your nation”. At Namugongo, where most of the martyrs were burned alive, he will celebrate Mass in their honor to mark the 50th anniversary of the Catholics’ canonization.
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“These are wounds inflicted by minorities who cling to power and wealth, who selfishly squander while a growing majority is forced to flee to abandoned, filthy and run-down peripheries”, he told crowds in the slum on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital.
The Pope’s first papal trip to Africa started in Kenya on Wednesday. “Their wisdom and experience should always be valued as a compass which can enable society to find the right direction in confronting the challenges of the present with integrity, wisdom and vision”, he said of the elderly.
Witnessing to what is true, good and attractive – even if that witness is motivated by different faiths – brings people together and strengthens a nation, Pope Francis said.
The pope will also spend Saturday in Uganda, followed by a visit to the Central African Republic Sunday.
Former Rongai legislator Luka Kigen and Naivasha MP John Kihagi on Friday made the separate calls, adding that the Pope’s demeanor since he jetted in the country two days ago, was a wakeup call to the Kenyan clergy who have a penchant for lavish lifestyles.
“This is what happens when we forget God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favouring anyone”, he said.
The pope was speaking Friday in formal remarks at Uganda’s State House, located in the city of Entebbe, where his plane landed after about an hour flight from Nairobi, Kenya.
“In the work of building a sound democratic order, strengthening cohesion and integration, tolerance and respect for others, the pursuit of the common good must be a primary goal”.
The pope also attended a youth rally at the Kasarani Stadium, where he urged attendees to resist the temptation of corruption.
“If a young person has no work, what kind of a future does he or she have?”
After the visit to Kangemi, Francis received a rock-star welcome at Nairobi’s Kasarani sports stadium, where he zoomed around the track in his open-sided popemobile to the delight of the crowd. “Young people, corruption is not a path to life, it’s a path to death”. “I have a role model and will practice his humility”, said Regina Kimende, who came from a neighboring parish.
She says she didn’t mind the mud or the rain that soaked her overnight.
In addition to his stop in Kenya, Pope Francis’ African trip will also include a stop in Uganda, but, the Washington Post reports, the focal point of his Africa trip appears to be the Central African Republic, where a war between Christians and Muslims has claimed more than 5,000 lives since 2013.
Francis referred to the problem of urban shanties in his speech to the African U.N. headquarters on Thursday, saying everyone has a basic right to “dignified living conditions”, and that the views of local residents must be taken into account when urban planners are designing new construction.
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The pope proposed “integrated cities which belong to everyone” as way of alleviating urban poverty and inequality.
