Pope Francis' visit to Africa

On his first trip ever to Africa, the head of the Catholic church Pope Francis is set to take a 6 day Papal tour of the continent. He embarked on the much anticipated visit on Wednesday the 25^th of November, 2015. Since Pope John Paul II visited in 1998, we never had any other papal visit in Nigeria. It is worthy of note that the former President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan on his return from a trip in Vatican some time ago disclosed that Pope Francis had promised to visit Nigeria.

Amidst the excitement, the pope will however not be a visiting Nigeria during this mini tour of the continent, which means the eyes of the world will undoubtedly be on Kenya, Uganda and the war torn Central African Republic where he has been scheduled to meet with regional and religious leaders.

His two day stay in each of the country’s capital will involve first a visit to the Nairobi State House in Kenya, then to Kangemi, a slum in Nairobi and then saying a mass at a university in the capital city, his speech to the UN agency in charge of environmental protection is sure to get a global audience because it will be coming up just three days before world leaders meet in Paris for a conference on climate change. He is scheduled to visit a home for the disabled in Nalukolongo and make his last stop in Bangui, the capital city of the Central African Republic where he’ll meet with Muslim leaders at the Koudoukou mosque.

As many leaders and millions of people will gather to meet the Pope, it is believed that the moral force of the Papacy will serve as a transformational power in the restoration of a reconciliatory spirit and peace in the continent. He is expected to address the issue of poverty, religious extremism and climate change of which he is notably passionate about in his public celebrations of Mass, meetings with UN representatives and religious leaders.