KAMPALA, Uganda — Pope Francis arrived in Uganda on Friday on the second leg of his African pilgrimage, declaring Africa the “continent of hope” and honoring Uganda’s most famous Christians.
Francis arrived from Kenya at Entebbe International Airport, where Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni welcomed him along with a military brass band and traditional drummers and dancers gyrating their hips.
Francis, who is scheduled to visit Central African Republic, is in Uganda mainly to honor the memory of a group of Ugandan Christians who were killed in the late 19th century on the orders of a local king eager to thwart the growing influence of Christianity.
Those victims, known as the Uganda Martyrs, include 45 Anglicans and Catholics killed between 1885 and 1887. Pope Paul VI canonized the 22 Ugandan Catholics in 1964.
Later Friday, a remarkably enthusiastic crowd, complete with more traditional dancers and shrieking faithful, greeted Francis as he arrived at a shrine honoring the martyrs in Munyonyo, where they were condemned to death.
Francis said their witness helped Christianity grow in Uganda and that the king’s plot to “wipe out the followers of Christ” had failed.
