Paul KeenanThe Pope’s upcoming African trip will require distinct messages, writes Paul Keenan
In exactly one month, Pope Francis departs for Africa for his first official trip to that continent since becoming Pontiff. And while there is little doubt that he will encounter Catholic communities at once numerous and vibrant – with brimming seminaries the envy of the rest of the Catholic world – the Pope is visiting three distinct nations, demanding nuanced messages within universal themes.
Kenya
Pope Francis’s arrival in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for the November 25-27 leg of his trip will be the first papal visit to the country since that of St John Paul II, to a rapturous welcome in 1995.
Of immediate concern for those organising the papal itinerary no doubt will be the proximity of Kenya to one of the frontlines in the current era of Islamist expansion. Hard by the country’s north-eastern border is the fractious state of Somalia, home to the al Shabab movement, which has made Kenya a favourite target since the latter’s incursions to tackle the militant threat.
Shootings
The fatal shootings at a university in Garissa in April and the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in the capital are still fresh in the Kenyan memory.
Just last weekend, the country’s military was involved in another operation to strike an al Shabab base inside Somalia. The raid reportedly saw 15 Islamist militants of the group killed.
Will anti-Christian persecution, then, be renewed as a theme by the Pontiff as he addresses some of the 14 million Catholics that Kenya is home to? Very likely, not least because, within the nation’s borders, Christians in that dangerous north-eastern region have suffered threats and attacks by more extremist elements whose sympathies lie with al Shabab. Some churches are now actively using metal detectors for visitors such is the ongoing threat.
More broadly, poverty is a universal topic for the nation, and reflecting this, Pope Francis will part company with politicians and high profile leaders to visit the poor, on this occasion when he visits the Nairobi neighbourhood of Kangemi on the 27th.
Central African Republic
The clearest sense of the environment into which Pope Francis arrives when he lands in the CAR capital of Bangui on November 29 (until the 30th) is contained in the call made by the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator on October 22. Following a recent spike in violence once again, after a period of calm brokered by leading members of the Catholic and Muslim faiths, the UN issued a call for an increased focus on the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the nation.
The spark for the latest outbreak of violence came in late September when a Muslim taxi-rider was killed, leading to attacks on Christian neighbourhoods by outraged Muslims, which included the torching of churches. (CAR is home to at least 900,000 Catholics.)
After an uprising in 2013 which saw the ousting of former President Francois Bozize, the new ‘government’ of Michel Djotodia and his mainly Muslim Seleka rebels was forced to retreat ahead in early 2014 by the anti-Balaka movement of mainly Christian members. Caught in the middle were ordinary citizens, targeted in tit-for-tat killings based on faith lines. Today, according to the UN’s own estimates, the violence has left more than half of the country’s population in need of humanitarian assistance; some 400,000 people remain internally displaced, while a further 454,000 have fled to neighbouring countries. (The Pontiff will visit one refugee camp on November 29.)
The short-lived peace that existed, allowing the hastily formed Transitional Council of Catherine Samba Panza to gain a foothold, was originally brokered by the Catholic Church’s Archbishop Dieudonné Nzapalainga of Bangui, his Muslim counterpart Imam Oumar Kobine Layama, and Evangelical Pastor Nicolas Guérékoyaméné-Gbangou, all of whom have been honoured for their efforts and have since travelled to Rome to meet Pope Francis.
There is little doubt they will feature prominently in the papal visit, and will surely form a backdrop of solidarity as the Pontiff issues a message of peace and co-existence. Notably, one stop on the CAR itinerary will be a meeting with Muslim representatives at Bangui’s Koudoukou mosque.
Indeed, one of the more hopeful messages delivered in advance of the trip has been issued by Imam Layama, who sees in the Pope’s arrival the potential for all sides in CAR to be reconciled by his messages.
“This will be a key event for all Central Africans, whatever their religious affiliations,” he said in recent days. “We’re hoping the Holy Father will bring a clear message about the unity of believers, interfaith dialogue, human rights and peace, which could really liberate us and help rebuild social links the various armed groups have destroyed.”
Remove the term ‘Central’ from the message, and you have a universal message for Africa that Pope Francis is powerful enough to carry.
Uganda
If the Pope seeks to address the issue of poverty during his Ugandan visit of November 27 to 29, he need only mention one painful fact linked with Uganda to do so. According to latest available figures, the country currently has no fewer than 3.7 million children under the age of five existing in dire poverty. (Of the nation’s total population of some 34.9 million, 18% – 6,282,000 – are children under five years of age.)
A relatively stable and peaceful nation today, after the fearful years of dictatorship under Idi Amin, Uganda began its road to recovery in 1986 under the guidance of President Yoweri Museveni, who enacted large scaled reforms to the political process.
Politics is but one part of a nation’s life, however, and Uganda finds itself stymied in terms of growth by its heavy reliance on its major export product, coffee. As world commodity prices swing erratically, Uganda’s fortunes become a pendulum as it continues to shake off its dark past.
Globalisation, then, may well be an element pressed by a Pope given to challenging the inequities of the world order on that front. After all, if Uganda can survive the excesses of the Amin years to be an example of governance to neighbouring nations, surely a well-deserved position within the international marketplace would have a knock-on benefit by example. (Such are the messages that have made staunch capitalists shift uncomfortably when Pope Francis speaks.)
Elections
Such a clarion call would serve Uganda also. The nation faces fresh elections in February, with Museveni’s ruling NRM Party hoping for success once again. But, amid high levels of poverty, it has been noted by commentators that, even at this remove from polling, tensions are rising, with so-called militia groupings of disaffected youngsters already spoiling for confrontation.
As to statistics for the trip, it is reported that the Pope’s announcement that he is to visit the nation’s Namugongo shrine has led to a surge of interest from pilgrims hoping to access the site on the night before the Pope himself arrives to lead a major Mass there. That surge is predicted to involve no less than two million faithful Ugandans (of a Catholic population of over 13.5 million).