Pope Francis has arrived in the conflict-stricken Central African Republic for the last leg of his African tour — and his first visit to an active war zone.
The Pope landed Sunday morning in Bangui, the capital of the former French colony, where he will spend two days before returning to the Vatican.
He visited a refugee camp in the capital, where he was also scheduled to celebrate Mass at the city’s cathedral and visit a mosque, sending a powerful message of religious tolerance in a country plagued by intercommunal violence.
Security has been heightened for the Pope’s visit to the country of 5 million people, which has been wracked by violence between the Christian majority and Muslim minority in recent years.
The Central African Republic government has deployed extra security forces, including U.N. peacekeepers, in an effort to ensure his safety during what may be the most dangerous country a Pope has visited in recent memory.
Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since President Francois Bozize, a Christian, was ousted by a predominantly Muslim coalition of rebels in 2013, plunging the country into chaos.
Brutal retaliatory attacks between Christian and Muslim militias ensued, with a surge of violence in recent months leaving more than 60 people dead.
The Pope will meet with Christian and Muslim leaders in the country, where he is expected to touch on the importance of reconciliation and tolerance — a key theme of his first African tour.
He urged a gathering of religious leaders in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Thursday to “pray all men and women will see themselves as brothers and sisters, united in and through our difference. Let us pray for peace.”
Francis’ first papal trip to Africa started in Kenya on Wednesday before heading to Uganda, and has seen the Pope address issues such as poverty, corruption, climate change and poaching.
He also met privately Friday with Salva Kiir, the president of South Sudan, according to Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi.
On Friday, he waded into the heart of a Kenyan shantytown, spreading a message of acceptance and lashing out at the elite for neglecting the poor.
In the sprawling slum filled with tin-roofed homes, he described injustices against the less fortunate as “new forms of colonialism.”
During his meeting at a Nairobi sports center, he spoke out against corruption, which is rampant in Kenya and has made headlines recently.
Francis delivered a warning Thursday ahead of a climate change conference that begins Monday in Paris. He urged nations to reach an agreement to curb fossil fuel emissions and to work together to find solutions to environmental degradation.
“It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good,” the Pope said.
But it was his comments on the pillaging of African resources that drew a louder response.
He urged Africans to demand an end to poaching, which “fuels political instability, organized crime and terrorism.” The message reverberated with a nation where farming and tourism are a crucial part of the economy.
Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, visited several countries in Africa. During his nearly three decades in the papacy, Pope John Paul II also made dozens of trips to the continent. Â
