NAIROBI, Kenya — In his first full day in Africa, Pope Francis spoke to a world reeling from terrorist attacks, condemning the way young people have been “radicalized in the name of religion to sow discord and fear.”
That message — like the rest of his comments here Thursday — spoke to global and local concerns, shifting between lamentations for a perilous time in history and the threats facing Kenya as its economic and geopolitical strength grows. Francis has described the amalgam of conflicts pervading the globe as a “piecemeal” Third World War, and on this trip he has set out to examine some of the pieces.
At a meeting with religious officials from multiple faiths, he cited the two largest terrorist attacks in Kenya’s recent history — the 2013 assault on the Westgate Mall, in which 67 people died, and the attack this year on Garissa University, where 147 were killed. The growth of terrorism in sub-Saharan Africa has often been overshadowed by the Islamic State’s operations elsewhere, but the string of groups operating on the continent is no less deadly.
Francis recognized Kenya’s own struggles against Islamist extremism, saying at a meeting of religious officials that he knew the two attacks “are fresh in your minds.”
Over the next three days, he likely will bring the same approach to Uganda and the Central African Republic, countries plagued by their own protracted conflicts. Uganda has failed to defeat the Joseph Kony-led Lord’s Resistance Army, which has conducted killing sprees across much of east and central Africa. The Central African Republic is in the midst of a civil war that has killed more than 5,000 people since 2013.
The visit to the Central African Republic is particularly risky — marking the first time a pope has entered an active armed conflict. On the plane to Ken ya, according to the ANSA Italian news agency, Francis joked with the pilot: “I want to go to CAR. If you can’t manage it, give me a parachute.”
At Thursday’s interfaith meeting, Francis discussed the ways extremism is used “to sow discord and fear, and to tear at the very fabric of our societies.” He stressed the need for religious leaders to heal those wounds, shifting his message back to the universal. “His holy name must never be used to justify hatred and violence,” Francis said.
