VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will tour a Kenyan slum, meet with Muslims and evangelical Christians and visit a refugee camp in the conflict-torn Central African Republic during his first trip to Africa next month, the Vatican said Saturday.
Francis will also pay tribute to Uganda’s martyrs during the three-nation trip Nov. 25-30 that will bring him face to face for the first time with the effects of Islamic extremism and Christian-Muslim violence on the continent.
The Vatican on Saturday unveiled the itinerary of the whirlwind trip that will pose security risks that have largely been absent on Francis’ foreign trips to date.
Francis arrives first in Nairobi, where highlights include a tour of the Kangemi slum and a meeting with representatives of Kenya’s multifaith community.
Kenya has been facing the threat of attacks from al-Shabab Islamic militants ever since it sent troops to fight Somali rebels in 2011. Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has conducted major attacks in Kenya, including the 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall and an April attack on a university in Garissa that killed nearly 150 people, many of them Christians and non-Muslims.
Francis is likely to condemn religiously motivated violence and call for greater interfaith harmony.
