Pope Francis has written a letter to President Yoweri Museveni as he overflew over Uganda ahead of his trip to Mozambique on Friday — his 31st trip abroad and his return to sub-Saharan Africa — with a visit to HIV-AIDS patients and an open-air Mass focused on reconciliation and peace.
“As I overfly Uganda on my way to Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius, I send greetings to Your Excellency and your fellow citizens the assurance of my prayers for peace and harmony. I invoke abundant blessings upon all of you,” he said in a message he conveyed through the control tower at Entebbe International Airport.
The President uploaded a snapshot of the letter, with the caption: I have received a message from his Holiness Pope Francis. “Thank you. @Pontifex for your prayers, wonderful wishes, and blessings upon Uganda and its people. May the lord accompany you and manifest himself through your works.”
During his visit to Uganda in 2015, Pope Francis called on Ugandans and the global population to embrace tolerance and reconciliation.
At the same event, Pope Francis lauded Uganda for playing host to thousands of refugees.
At his latest trip to Africa where he visited Mozambique, Madagascar, and Mauritius, the Pope emphasized his signature issues — poverty, climate change and migration — while focusing on Africa’s centrality to the future of the Roman Catholic Church and the church’s contributions to reconciliation in Africa.
Pope Francis wrapped up the Mozambique leg of his journey at an open-air Mass at the Zimpeto soccer stadium on Friday morning, where he urged attendees to put past conflicts behind them and shape the country’s future through reconciliation.
