Pope Francis’ first visit to Africa continued in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic (CAR), where he took the biggest risks of his papacy by entering a mosque under siege in the civil war zone.
The pontiff was under UN and Vatican protection, but his visit to the mosque in the PK5 neighborhood was considered a high-risk activity. Only 15,000 Muslims are believed to be left in Bangui, the majority in the PK5 area, where they are surrounded by Christian militias. The civil war, which began in March 2013 following a coup d’etat orchestrated by the rebels to take over the Bozizé government, has forced the majority of the 122,000 Muslims to flee the country.
Pope Francis visited the Koudoukou mosque to deliver a peace and reconciliation message and insisted on showing solidarity between the two religions.
Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters, and we must act as such.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 30, 2015
“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. God is peace. Salaam,” he said, using the Arabic word for peace.
Demonstrating respect, Pope Francis removed his shoes on entering the mosque and bowed towards the holy Muslim city of Mecca. Several hundred men were in attendance for the service to receive his message of peace.
The Guardian reported that the chief imam, Tidiani Moussa Naibi, said Francis’ visit was “ a symbol which we all understand .”
Pope Francis’ first six-day tour of Africa included visits to Kenya and Uganda. The pope has now returned to Rome.
CAR’s civil war is often seen as a conflict between the Muslim Seleka rebels, who ousted President Bozizé in 2013 after months of offensive and failed peace agreements, and the Christian majority. Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict, and about one million have been displaced.
The mosque was under high-level protection during Pope Francis’ visit, with armed UN peacekeepers positioned on the minarets and a helicopter overhead. The area was policed by armed Muslim rebels watching out for Christian vigilante groups.
A group of rebels reportedly joined the cheering crowd, adorning T-shirts with the pope’s image. Some Muslims have been living in the mosque after they fled their homes and welcomed Pope Francis’ message of peace and unity. Speaking in Italian and translated into the local language, Sango, the pope said young Central Africans should be “actors of change.”
Referring to the conflict, Pope Francis said the fighting factions in CAR should lay down their weapons and arm themselves “with justice, love, mercy and authentic peace.”
I come to the Central African Republic as a pilgrim of peace and as an apostle of hope.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex) November 29, 2015
During his Kenya visit, Pope Francis did not hesitate to point the finger at the “small minority” of wealthy people who exclude the poor from society. In Kangemi, a slum of Kenyan capital Nairobi, Francis highlighted injustices which plight the country, including the lack of access of water, which he said no bureaucratic or commercial reasoning could justify.
After the Bangui ceremony, the pope addressed a prayer vigil and encouraged people to resist, as reported by Zenit.
He said, “To flee from challenges is never a solution. Resistance is needed. To have the courage of resistance and of fighting for good. One who escapes doesn’t have the courage to give life.”
Pope Francis then visited Bangui’s children hospital Sunday evening, where he donated a box of medicine he had brought from Rome.
[Photo by Getty Images/Nichole Sobecki]
