Mkalukungone Mwamba
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 29, 2022
- 3,141
- 7,205
Vatican ilitangaza Jumatano kuwa Papa Leo wa Kumi na Nne atafanya ziara ya siku 10 barani Afrika mwezi Aprili, akitembelea nchi za Algeria, Angola, Cameroon na Equatorial Guinea, chini ya mwaka mmoja tangu achaguliwe kuwa papa.
Ziara hiyo ya mapema inaonekana kuashiria umuhimu wa Afrika, bara ambalo Ukatoliki wa Kanisa la Roma unakua kwa kasi zaidi kuliko sehemu nyingine yoyote duniani. Kulingana na takwimu za hivi karibuni zilizochapishwa na Vatican, idadi ya Wakatoliki duniani iliongezeka kwa zaidi ya milioni 15 kati ya katikati ya mwaka 2022 na katikati ya mwaka 2023, huku zaidi ya nusu ya ongezeko hilo likiwa limetoka Afrika. Bara hilo pia linazalisha idadi kubwa zaidi ya mapadri wanaopata mafunzo kuliko kanda nyingine, ingawa Waafrika bado hawajawakilishwa vya kutosha katika uongozi wa juu wa kanisa.
Mtangulizi wake, Pope Francis, aliongeza idadi ya makadinali kutoka Afrika lakini hakulifanya bara hilo kuwa sehemu ya ziara zake hadi baada ya zaidi ya miaka miwili madarakani.
Ingawa hii itakuwa ziara yake ya kwanza Afrika kama papa, Leo aliwahi kutembelea bara hilo mara kwa mara alipokuwa kiongozi wa Shirika la Order of Saint Augustine kuanzia mwaka 2001 hadi 2013, na pia katika kipindi cha miaka miwili alipokuwa akiongoza idara ya Vatican inayosimamia uteuzi wa maaskofu. Shirika la Augustino linatokana na mafundisho ya Augustine of Hippo, aliyezaliwa katika karne ya nne katika eneo ambalo sasa ni Algeria.
Katika ziara yake nchini Tanzania mwaka 2003, Leo alisafiri umbali wa maili 470 kwa gari “ambalo aliliendesha mwenyewe,” kulingana na Askofu Stephano Musomba katika mahojiano na gazeti la ndani Mei mwaka jana. Inafahamika pia kuwa Leo anapenda kuendesha safari ndefu kwa gari.
============
The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope Leo XIV would make a 10-day trip to Africa in April, traveling to Algeria, Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, less than a year after he was elected to the papacy.
The trip to Africa so early in Leo’s tenure appeared to signal the importance of a continent where Roman Catholicism is growing faster than anywhere else. The number of Catholics grew by more than 15 million worldwide from mid-2022 to mid-2023, more than half of them in Africa, according to the most recent statistics published by the Vatican. The continent also produces more trainee priests than any other, though Africans are underrepresented in the church’s senior leadership.
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, increased the number of African cardinals but did not visit the continent until he had been in office for more than two years.
Though it will be Leo’s first trip to Africa as pope, he visited the continent regularly as leader of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013 and also during the two years in which he headed a department at the Vatican that oversees the appointment of bishops. The Augustinian order traces its roots to the teachings of St. Augustine, who was born in the fourth century in what is now Algeria.
During a visit to Tanzania in 2003, Leo made a 470-mile trip in a car “which he drove himself,” Bishop Stephano Musomba, a Tanzanian cleric, said in an interview with a local newspaper last May. Leo’s love of long-distance driving is well documented.
In November, on his first international trip since he was elected as pope, Leo traveled to Turkey and Lebanon, where he tried to strengthen ties with Islamic leaders and with the Orthodox church. On the return flight to Rome, Leo was asked about future trips and he expressed his desire to travel to Africa, and specifically “to Algeria to visit the places of St. Augustine, but also in order to continue the conversation of dialogue, of building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world.”
Nearly a fifth of all Roman Catholics are Africans, a proportion that is not reflected in the church’s hierarchy. There are currently 245 cardinals, about half of whom are under 80 and can therefore vote in a conclave to choose a pope. Africa has 29 cardinals, roughly half of them under 80. Nearly two-thirds were appointed by Pope Francis, who made the church leadership more geographically diverse.
Roughly 280 million people, about a fifth of Africa’s population, are Roman Catholic.
Pope Paul VI was the first pope to visit Africa, traveling to Uganda in 1969. His successor, John Paul II, visited the continent 13 times from 1980 to 2000. Benedict XVI traveled to Africa twice during his papacy, and Francis, who died last year, went four times from 2015 to 2023. When Francis visited the Democratic Republic of Congo during his last trip to the continent, he sought to encourage peace in an overwhelmingly Christian country that has known little of it.
The Vatican said that, in Algeria, Leo would spend April 13-15 in Algiers and Annaba, which stands on the site of Hippo, the ancient city where St. Augustine lived. In Cameroon, he will travel to Yaoundé, Bamenda and Douala from April 15-18, before visiting Luanda, Muxima and Saurimo in Angola from April 18-21. The final stops are in Equatorial Guinea, where Leo will visit Malabo, Mongomo and Bata from April 21-23.
Ziara hiyo ya mapema inaonekana kuashiria umuhimu wa Afrika, bara ambalo Ukatoliki wa Kanisa la Roma unakua kwa kasi zaidi kuliko sehemu nyingine yoyote duniani. Kulingana na takwimu za hivi karibuni zilizochapishwa na Vatican, idadi ya Wakatoliki duniani iliongezeka kwa zaidi ya milioni 15 kati ya katikati ya mwaka 2022 na katikati ya mwaka 2023, huku zaidi ya nusu ya ongezeko hilo likiwa limetoka Afrika. Bara hilo pia linazalisha idadi kubwa zaidi ya mapadri wanaopata mafunzo kuliko kanda nyingine, ingawa Waafrika bado hawajawakilishwa vya kutosha katika uongozi wa juu wa kanisa.
Mtangulizi wake, Pope Francis, aliongeza idadi ya makadinali kutoka Afrika lakini hakulifanya bara hilo kuwa sehemu ya ziara zake hadi baada ya zaidi ya miaka miwili madarakani.
Ingawa hii itakuwa ziara yake ya kwanza Afrika kama papa, Leo aliwahi kutembelea bara hilo mara kwa mara alipokuwa kiongozi wa Shirika la Order of Saint Augustine kuanzia mwaka 2001 hadi 2013, na pia katika kipindi cha miaka miwili alipokuwa akiongoza idara ya Vatican inayosimamia uteuzi wa maaskofu. Shirika la Augustino linatokana na mafundisho ya Augustine of Hippo, aliyezaliwa katika karne ya nne katika eneo ambalo sasa ni Algeria.
Katika ziara yake nchini Tanzania mwaka 2003, Leo alisafiri umbali wa maili 470 kwa gari “ambalo aliliendesha mwenyewe,” kulingana na Askofu Stephano Musomba katika mahojiano na gazeti la ndani Mei mwaka jana. Inafahamika pia kuwa Leo anapenda kuendesha safari ndefu kwa gari.
============
The Vatican announced on Wednesday that Pope Leo XIV would make a 10-day trip to Africa in April, traveling to Algeria, Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, less than a year after he was elected to the papacy.
The trip to Africa so early in Leo’s tenure appeared to signal the importance of a continent where Roman Catholicism is growing faster than anywhere else. The number of Catholics grew by more than 15 million worldwide from mid-2022 to mid-2023, more than half of them in Africa, according to the most recent statistics published by the Vatican. The continent also produces more trainee priests than any other, though Africans are underrepresented in the church’s senior leadership.
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, increased the number of African cardinals but did not visit the continent until he had been in office for more than two years.
Though it will be Leo’s first trip to Africa as pope, he visited the continent regularly as leader of the Augustinian order from 2001 to 2013 and also during the two years in which he headed a department at the Vatican that oversees the appointment of bishops. The Augustinian order traces its roots to the teachings of St. Augustine, who was born in the fourth century in what is now Algeria.
During a visit to Tanzania in 2003, Leo made a 470-mile trip in a car “which he drove himself,” Bishop Stephano Musomba, a Tanzanian cleric, said in an interview with a local newspaper last May. Leo’s love of long-distance driving is well documented.
In November, on his first international trip since he was elected as pope, Leo traveled to Turkey and Lebanon, where he tried to strengthen ties with Islamic leaders and with the Orthodox church. On the return flight to Rome, Leo was asked about future trips and he expressed his desire to travel to Africa, and specifically “to Algeria to visit the places of St. Augustine, but also in order to continue the conversation of dialogue, of building bridges between the Christian world and the Muslim world.”
Nearly a fifth of all Roman Catholics are Africans, a proportion that is not reflected in the church’s hierarchy. There are currently 245 cardinals, about half of whom are under 80 and can therefore vote in a conclave to choose a pope. Africa has 29 cardinals, roughly half of them under 80. Nearly two-thirds were appointed by Pope Francis, who made the church leadership more geographically diverse.
Roughly 280 million people, about a fifth of Africa’s population, are Roman Catholic.
Pope Paul VI was the first pope to visit Africa, traveling to Uganda in 1969. His successor, John Paul II, visited the continent 13 times from 1980 to 2000. Benedict XVI traveled to Africa twice during his papacy, and Francis, who died last year, went four times from 2015 to 2023. When Francis visited the Democratic Republic of Congo during his last trip to the continent, he sought to encourage peace in an overwhelmingly Christian country that has known little of it.
The Vatican said that, in Algeria, Leo would spend April 13-15 in Algiers and Annaba, which stands on the site of Hippo, the ancient city where St. Augustine lived. In Cameroon, he will travel to Yaoundé, Bamenda and Douala from April 15-18, before visiting Luanda, Muxima and Saurimo in Angola from April 18-21. The final stops are in Equatorial Guinea, where Leo will visit Malabo, Mongomo and Bata from April 21-23.
