POPE-AFRICA/KENYA MASS ARRIVAL Tens of thousands welcome Pope Francis at Nairobi mass

Record ID: 126099

  • Title: POPE-AFRICA/KENYA MASS ARRIVAL Tens of thousands welcome Pope Francis at Nairobi mass
  • Date: 26th November 2015
  • Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (NOVEMBER 26, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POPE ARRIVING ON POPE MOBILE, WAVING TO CROWD CROWD WAVING AT POPE FRANCIS MORE OF POPE ARRIVING ON POPE MOBILE CROWD WAVING, CHEERING, DANCING VARIOUS OF POPE, HIS DELEGATION WALKING TOWARDS DAIS
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVABSV6SMULVFZ7N3ATUI6PCU01E
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Thousands of Catholic worshippers gathered in the Kenyan capital in spite of rainy conditions to attend a mass by Pope Francis on Thursday (November 26).
    Pope Francis waved towards the gathered crowds as he was driven past them on his Pope mobile on the way to the dais.
    In a meeting with religious leaders earlier, the Pope urged for dialogue between religions in Africa and said it was vital to teach young people violence and hate in God's name are unjustified.
    Kenya has been the target of a spate of Islamist militant massacres.
    Scholastica Kanyimba is one of the thousands attending the mass on Thursday.
    "I arrived here at seven in the morning and am so excited I have seen the Pope. For him to have come to our country, I feel very blessed because I was so happy to see him. I believe he has come with blessings from God," said Kanyimba.
    "I am feeling blessed and I think this is a good opportunity for us Kenyans because I can see we are receiving the blessings of God," added another Catholic worshipper, Anne Adhiambo.
    Bridging divisions between Muslims and Christians is a main theme of the Pope's first tour of the continent that takes him to Uganda, which like Kenya has been victim of Islamist attacks, and the Central African Republic, riven by sectarian conflict.
    He referred to several attacks carried out by Somalia's al Shabaab Islamists in Kenya in the past two years, including the 2013 assault by Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall and this year's attack on Garissa university. Scores of people have been killed.
    A third of Kenya's 45 million people are Catholics and tens of thousands of them gathered in pouring rain to celebrate at an outside Mass in central Nairobi with the pope later on Thursday.
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