Francisco, messenger of peace, already flies to Africa, the continent of hope

Francisco already flies to African lands. A few minutes after eight in the morning, the flight to Alitalia departed from Fiumicino's 'Leonardo Da Vinci' airport in the direction of Maputo, The capital of Mozambique. After ten and a half hours of flight, and 7,825 kilometers, Bergoglio will land in the African country, which once again relies on the peace process for the resolution of its bowel conflicts.

And Francisco comes to Mozambique as a messenger of a fragile but desired peace. Throughout these days, the Pope will remember the forgotten wars in Africa, poverty, the effects of the climate crisis, exploitation and epidemics. Maputo, who awaits the Pope with hope, is a faithful witness to all this, after 17 years of a civil war that has squandered the country's resources, killed one million people and made four others refugees.

Before leaving, Bergoglio published a tweet, in which he invites the faithful to pray for God "consolidate fraternal reconciliation throughout Africa, the only hope for a solid and lasting peace"As usual, he visited the Salus Romana late yesterday to ask for the success of the trip.

Also before leaving for the airport, Francisco met 12 people living in the Astalli Center of the Community of San't Egidio, from Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius. The group was accompanied by the beggar, Konrad Krajewski.

I invite everyone to join my prayer so that God, Father of all, will consolidate fraternal reconciliation throughout Africa, the only hope for a solid and lasting peace. # Apostolic travel#Mozambique#Madagascar#Mauricio

• Pope Francis (@Pontifex_en) September 4, 2019

Peace Agreements

In his first speech, in the presidency of Mozambique, the Pope will remember that peace agreement signed on October 4, 1992 in Rome thanks to the mediation of the Catholic movement of the Community of San Egidio.

To the country that is heading for new elections in October, Francisco will ask for efforts to maintain the last agreement in early August between the president, Filipe Nyusi, and the leader of the Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo), Ossufo Momade.

It will be a speech calling for reconciliation and dialogue that will extend to all the conflicts present in the continent.

Oggi 🛫 with #PapaFrancesco in volo per #Mozambico#Madagascar and #Mauritius. In the center of the viaggio and grandi temi del pontificato: pace dopo lotte fratricide, solidarietà dopo calamità, migrazioni e integrazione, custody of the creator, value delle culture locali …#PapaInAfricapic.twitter.com/W0Mgq4sfmw

– Antonio Spadaro (@antoniospadaro) September 4, 2019

Mozambique is the tenth poorest country, according to the Human Development Index (HDI), in which 70% of the 28 million inhabitants live below the poverty line and 43% of children up to five years have chronic malnutrition, according to Program data World Food (WFP).

Francisco also wants to make visible the help that the Catholic Church provides in Africa and for that reason he will go to Maputo at the "Matteo 25 House", a place managed by the nunciature and several congregations, where food, clothes and other services are provided every day to About 100 people (children, drug addicts, sick people, homeless people) who are going to look directly for the street.

Cyclone Idai

Although it has not been possible for the pope to move to Biera, the second most important city in Mozambique, destroyed by the cyclone Idai In March of this year, Francisco will make reference in his speeches to the natural disasters the country has suffered and to one of the most affected by the increasingly frequent and devastating natural disasters due to the climate crisis.

He will also hold a meeting in the nunciature with the Xai-Xai community, that in 2000, due to one of the floods, it saw its territory flooded by more than three meters of water, but in a few years they have managed to rebuild the area and is now an important tourist engine of the country.

The Comunità di #SantEgidio in #Mozambico Prepare and sing for accogliere Pope Francesco nella sua visit il # 6settembre to the center DREAM di Zimpeto for the cure di mamme e bambini affetti dall’Aids #papainafricapic.twitter.com/LHprmvQOnx

– Comunità Sant'Egidio (@santegidionews) September 3, 2019

The pontiff will visit the medical center of the DREAM project on September 6, promoted by the community of San Egidio, which treats AIDS patients in the Zimpeto neighborhood, where 3,800 people are served.

Environment and deforestation

Francisco will surely launch an appeal to multiply investments and will appeal to the responsibility of the countries that exploit their natural resources.

Both logging and the need for arable land for the majority of people living in agriculture are causing significant deforestation in Mozambique and Madagascar.

According to the Global Forest Watch, a research platform that studies NASA satellite images, from 2001 to 2018, Mozambique lost 3 million hectares of forests, a total of 11% of its forest area, and Madagascar 3.63 million hectares, which is equivalent to a 21% decrease.

Madagascar and Mauritius

The second stage of Francisco's trip will be Madagascar, a country among the 20 poorest in the world and where Catholics represent 36%, from September 6 to 8.

There, the Pope will once again put the spotlight on the epidemics that hit Africa, for which only access to vaccines would be useful, and will greet survivors of the measles outbreak that, from April 2018 to April 2019, caused 1,200 deaths in the country.

One of the most significant moments of the trip will be Francisco's visit to Akamasoa, the miracle city built on a landfill by the Argentine missionary Pedro Opeka, candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, and where 25,000 people now live in decent conditions.

The pontiff will spend only a few hours in Mauritius, the other side of Africa, a country of luxury tourism, in the process of development and whose economy grows by about 5% every year, and where there is a peaceful coexistence among Catholics, 28% and the Hindu majority.