BANGUI OCTOBER 27, 2015 (CISA) – Religious leaders in Central Africa have predicted the Pope’s upcoming visit could help bring peace to their country, three years after a Muslim-led rebellion plunged the country into civil war.
Pope Francis will visit the capital, Bangui, on November 29 – 30, after visiting Kenya and Uganda.
Religious leaders have shared their hopes that the trip will be seen as an “occasion to return to the path of peace” for groups like Boko Haram.
Included in the Pope’s itinerary is a meeting with Muslims in the city’s central Koudoukou mosque.
“This will be a key event for all Central Africans, whatever their religious affiliations,” said Imam Omar Kobine Layama, president of the Islamic Council.
“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,” added the Imam.
In an interview with Catholic News Service, the imam said Muslim leaders had asked Pope Francis to call on rebel groups to give up their weapons after U.N. sponsored disarmament efforts had failed “to get the message across.”
“The Holy Father has already done a great deal to help all Central Africans, whether they’re Catholics, Muslims, Protestants or animists,” he said.
“This will be, first and foremost, an occasion for prayer. But it will also allow us to present our Muslim community to the world, highlighting its anxieties and fears.”
The secretary-general of the Central African Republic bishops’ conference said Muslim representatives had been consulted about plans for the two-day visit and how the Pope’s presence could best serve to ease the crisis.
“The Holy Father will speak to the hearts of both Christians and Muslims. We hope he’ll find the right words and gestures to save our country and enable us to move forward,” Msgr Cyriaque Gbate Doumalo said.
“People of all communities here are aware of the totality of tasks we face and very much need encouragement and hope. The conditions are right, and we count on them to respond appropriately at this important moment for testimony, forgiveness and reconciliation,” he added.
The Catholic Church’s nine dioceses make up a third of the 4.4 million inhabitants of the Central African Republic, where a rebel Seleka movement, led by Arab-speaking Islamists, suspended the constitution in March 2013 but was driven back after the January 2014 deployment of French and African peacekeepers.
