“Pope Francis is down-to-earth”, said John Paul Guminkiriza, 25, among many Ugandans named after John Paul II, following that previous pope’s visit.
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Strong population growth points to the trend continuing and important voices within the Church, such as the Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah, have suggested the continent can be the catalyst for a regeneration of Catholicism worldwide. ACN is a Catholic charity helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
NAMUGONGO, Uganda (AP) – More than 2 million people are expected to converge near a minor basilica in the Ugandan capital where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on Saturday, an official with the Roman Catholic Church here said Monday even as workers put in extra hours to spruce up the shrine. Two years ago, gunmen from the Somali militant group al Shabaab massacred at least 67 people inside Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall and held out for four days as security forces laid siege to the complex.
Pilgrims from Kenya, Tanzania, Australia and the United States are predicted to make the journey to see the Pope. He sent a telegram of condolences to the Archbishop of Bamako, saying he was “appalled by this senseless violence”.
The pope asked that people try to find their treasure and security only in Jesus and leave behind “all these things that aren’t necessary, that don’t support fidelity”. His personal security detail was almost doubled during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square last week.
The Pope starts his five-day trip across Africa on Wednesday with visits to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, a visit some commentators are calling the riskiest trip of his Papacy in light of global religious tensions and recent terror alerts.
But potentially his most hazardous stop is November 28-29 in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, where dozens of people have been killed since September in violence between Muslim Seleka rebels and Christian anti-balaka militias.
“If he opens the Holy Door in Bangui, a Jubilee Year will begin for the first time ever in the periphery” rather than the Church’s seat in the Vatican, Giulio Albanese, an African expert with Radio Vatican, told AFP.
The pope claimed that this state of constant war means that Christmas festivities are “all a charade”.
Francis will directly confront the poverty issue on Friday when he visits the Kangemi slum in Nairobi, where he will talk to 1,200 representatives from 11 shantytowns around the city.
Homosexuality is an abnormal lifestyle but Uganda has chosen not to persecute those “who have fallen victim to it”, said Shaban Bantariza, a government spokesman, according to Reuters.
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“The spiritual leaders in Uganda have actually incited the Ugandan society against gay people”, said Anthony Musaala, a Catholic priest who was suspended in 2013 after a paper he wrote exposing alleged transgressions by Ugandan priests was leaked to the local press.
