Skip to main content

A man pulls a cart past a billboard announcing the visit of Pope Francis in Nairobi on November 23, 2015.SIMON MAINA/AFP / Getty Images

Pope Francis, beginning his first visit to Africa on Wednesday, is venturing into a minefield of dangerous issues, from sectarian violence and radical terrorism to anti-gay persecution and rising social inequality. But he knows Africa is crucial to the future of the Catholic Church.

Catholicism is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else on Earth. In 1980, only 7 per cent of the world's Catholics were African. By 2012, the number had jumped to 16 per cent.

The number of Catholics on the continent is projected to double to 460 million over the next 25 years. Africa is also the fastest-growing source of Catholic priests and seminary students. If the Catholic Church hopes to continue growing, Africa must be at its heart.

Previous popes recognized that reality. Pope John Paul II visited so many African countries (42 in total) that he was nicknamed "The African." But this is the first time Pope Francis has visited Africa, and he has chosen a difficult journey, from Kenya and Uganda to the violence-racked Central African Republic.

Kenya and Uganda have both suffered deadly attacks by Islamist radical groups in recent years. Just a few days before the Pope's scheduled arrival in Nairobi on Wednesday, he was given a sharp reminder of the terrorist threat when gunmen killed at least 22 people in a hotel in Bamako, the capital of Mali. He sent a telegram of condolences to the Archbishop of Bamako, saying he was "appalled by this senseless violence."

Security issues will be a major concern during the Pope's travels in Africa, especially after the Paris attacks. His personal security detail was nearly doubled during his general audience in St. Peter's Square last week.

French military forces in the Central African Republic (CAR) have reportedly warned the Vatican that they cannot guarantee the Pope's safety in the CAR, where sporadic clashes have continued for months, and the Vatican has acknowledged that it might cancel the visit at the last minute if the security risks increase.

But Francis considers his visit to the CAR's capital city, Bangui, to have enormous symbolic importance. In a country where Muslim and Christian militias have fought brutally, and in a city where Muslims and Christians have become unofficially segregated by violence, he wants to send a message of reconciliation and peace.

The Pope intends to visit a refugee camp in Bangui on Nov. 29, and then, the following day, he plans to pray at a mosque in a Muslim neighbourhood where Christians have been largely expelled.

In a gesture of reconciliation, Francis has already said that it would be wrong for Christians to equate Islam with violence. A visit to a mosque in a war-torn city at a time of sectarian conflict would be a further effort to heal the divide.

He also plans to open a Holy Door in Bangui's cathedral, 10 days before the start of the Jubilee Year, a period of forgiveness in the Catholic Church. (A Holy Door is an entrance that is normally sealed from the inside; it is ceremoniously opened during Jubilee years for pilgrims.) By unofficially beginning the year with the opening of a Holy Door in an African country, the Pope would be symbolically recognizing the rapid growth of Catholicism in Africa, and the church's shift away from a Eurocentric view of itself.

"In the early 21st century, Africa is arguably the most consequential corner of the global map for Catholic fortunes," said a commentator this week on Crux, a Catholic news site.

While the issues of terrorism and sectarian violence might be the most urgent on his visit, the Pope must also tackle the deep problems of poverty and inequality in Africa. And he must decide whether to address the widespread discrimination against gays in Africa, at a time when he has begun to move cautiously away from the Church's traditional dogma on homosexuality.

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.

But it's unclear whether he will talk about the persecution of gays in Kenya or Uganda, where homosexual conduct is punishable by imprisonment.

Gay rights activists are hoping that he will address the issue, especially after he earlier responded to a question about a gay priest by saying: "Who am I to judge?" But his bishops and followers in Africa are generally more conservative than most in the rest of the world, and he will be under pressure to avoid the subject.

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following.

Interact with The Globe