Pope Francis will visit Africa this November

In an official announcement from the Vatican, Pope Francis will be visiting Africa this November in an attempt to help solve social and developmental issues.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (Catholic Online) - Pope Francis is scheduled to stay in Africa from November 25-30 and will initially arrive in Kenya, where he will stay for two days.

The pontiff will travel to Uganda November 27-29 and will stay at the Central African Republic from the 29-30.

When an African priest asked the Pope when he will be visiting Africa, Pope Francis said, "God willing, I will be in Africa in November ... before the presidential transition in the Central African Republic, and Uganda after the 50th anniversary of the martyrs, though a little late."

The twenty-two Ugandan Martyrs he referred to refused to give up their faith and were killed by their king in the 1880s. Pope Paul VI canonized the martyrs October 18, 1964 in St. Peter's Basilica and the Church of Uganda will be celebrating the Golden Anniversary of the canonization with a diocesan conference focusing on the twenty-two saints.

Pope Francis said, "[T]he backbone [of the Church of Africa] are the catechists. I think that the formation of lay catechists is fundamental in Africa. They are the ones who carry the Church forward."

The pontiff also mentioned schools and hospitals, all of which deserve recognition for their care of people.

"The tenderness, the care. Many religious sisters, many laity spend years and years and years caring for the sick with great tragedies. How many laity go there to serve as doctors in the tragedies!" he said.

In his recent encyclical "Laudato Si," Pope Francis mentioned terrorism and land exploitation in Africa. 

Africa suffers "a serious problem of the ideological wars," he wrote. It has become "a place of despoilment ... I say this with all respect and with a lot of love: Africa is an attractive place to despoil... (there is) the ability to go there in search of wood, gold or metals, and ravage and leave," the pontiff explained.

Knowing Africa's past and present, the Pope said, "This is an emergency. What is needed is that Europe goes there to Africa not to take things out of Africa, but to invest in Africa so that Africa has industry, work, and the people don't need to come here. This is the more social work.

"Europe has been very generous with Africa in terms of what's Catholic. Today the world isn't generous with Africa because they exploit it. They treat it as a land of exploitation."

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According to Mail&Guardian "Africa's Best Read," South Africa's economy fell by 1.3 percent in the second quarter of 2015 which has raised recession concerns.

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