(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi where he was welcomed by the nation’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, by local religious leaders and by crowds of singing, dancing well-wishers.
The papal plane touched down at 4.30 local time, ahead of schedule. After signing a visitor’s book, the Pope met privately with the President at the airport for a few minutes before being taken by car to the State House for an official welcome ceremony.
Pope Francis is the third pontiff to visit the East African nation, following in the footsteps of his predecessor John Paul II who travelled to the country three times in 1980, 1985 and 1995.
(from Vatican Radio)…
Vatican City, 25 November 2015 (VIS) – This morning the Holy Father departed for Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, on the eleventh apostolic trip of his papacy. At 7.15 a.m., before leaving for Rome’s Fiumicino airport, he received in the Domus Sanctae Marthae eleven women and six children from a Refuge House for victims of domestic violence and trafficking for the purposes of prostitution, according to the Apostolic Almoner. The women were Italian, Nigerian, Romanian and Ukrainian, and are housed in a structure managed by a religious congregation in a village in the Lazio region. Following the audience, the Pope travelled by car to Fiumicino where he departed for Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, where he is expected to arrive shortly after 3 p.m. (Rome), 5 p.m. local time. He will be received by the president of the Republic, Uhuru Kenyatta, and by the cardinal archbishop of Nairobi John Njue, along with the president of the Episcopal Conference Bishop Philip A. Anyolo and other representatives of the episcopate. He will then transfer to the State House of Nairobi, where the welcome ceremony and courtesy visit to President Uhuru Kenyatta will take place. Subsequently, in the garden of the State House, he will meet with the authorities and the diplomatic corps, along with other figures from the political, economic and cultural spheres, after which he will pronounce his first discourse on African soil….
(Vatican Radio) Before leaving for his Apostolic Journey to Kenya, Uganda, and the Central African Republic on Wednesday, Pope Francis received a visit at the Casa Santa Marta from several residents of a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
The 11 women and 6 children were victims of domestic violence or in danger of being forced into prostitution and are staying in a shelter home run by a religious congregation for their safety.
The women and children greeted the Holy Father just before he departed the Vatican for Rome’s Fiumicino Airport.
(from Vatican Radio)…
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has departed from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport amid tight security and is scheduled to arrive in Kenya on Wednesday afternoon at the beginning of his six-day Apostolic Visit to three African Nations.
Linda Bordoni is in Nairobi awaiting the Pope and sent us this report:
Day one of Pope Francis’ apostolic visit to Kenya begins at five pm Nairobi time on Wednesday when he touches down at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – named after Kenya’s first President, the much beloved and respected founding father of the Kenyan nation.
Kenya’s current President – Uhuru (which by the way means “freedom” in Swahili) and is Jomo Kenyatta’s son – will be on the tarmac to meet the Pope together with Nairobi archbishop, Cardinal John Njue, the President of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops and a small group of faithful who will sing and dance for the Pope as he sets foot for the very first time on African soil.
“Karibu Papa” they will sing to him in Swahili, “Karibu in Kenya” say the posters lining the Papal route, “Karibu” is the word on the lips of all the Kenyans I have met since being here, and it means: “Welcome!”
And after the short welcome ceremony at the airport Pope Francis will travel straight to the State House, where again, he will be welcomed with full military honours and the twenty one gun salute.
Here he is scheduled to pay the protocol courtesy visit to the President of the Republic and at the end of a private colloquium he will greet the President’s family, sign the Golden Book and present a gift to his host: a precious print from the Vatican archives.
Here he will also address political authorities and members of the diplomatic corps in English – one of the only two English discourses he is scheduled to pronounce as he makes his way through this busy six-day journey taking him to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic.
Straight afterwards Pope Francis will be whisked off for a restorative night’s rest at Nairobi’s Apostolic Nunciature.
He will have to gather much strength and energy indeed as hopes and expectations are high here in Kenya as the deeply religious people not only would like him to address questions of peaceful co-existence, good governance, tribalism and human rights, but want – and need – to hear the Catholic message of peace, reconciliation, tolerance, solidarity and mercy straight from the lips of the bishop of Rome.
(from Vatican Radio)…