PAPA ANTE PORTAS
(Posted 27th November 2015)
(Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and his wife Janet on a visit to the Vatican)
When Pope Francis’ plane touches down this late afternoon in Entebbe will President Museveni take time out from his re-election campaign and be Uganda’s Statesman when receiving His Holiness in Uganda.
Tens of thousands of Catholics from the region have arrived in Uganda already from South Sudan, Eastern Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania, and even Kenyans who hosted the Pope on this first stop of his first African tour, are expected to travel to Uganda by air and road to catch another glimpse of the Bishop of Rome, successor to Peter the Apostle.
President Museveni is probably the only president to host two Papal visits during his time as President, as in 1993 Pope John Paul II came to Uganda too. The first such visit took place soon after Independence when Pope Paul VI came to Uganda in 1969, starting a trend which has continued to the present Pope Francis.
Key of the visit will be a Papal Mass being celebrated at the Namugongo Martyrs Shrine, some 51 years after the 22 Ugandan Catholic victims of a cruel king Kabaka Mwanga II were pronounced saints. They were brutally killed alongside 23 Anglicans who are also remembered at the Martyrs Shrine.
Pope Francis will also visit the other memorial site near Munyonyo, a long stone throw from this correspondent’s residence, where another shrine, though less known and popular, has been created.
This visit is arguably the highest profile visit of the year and the publicity generated is bound to drive Uganda’s tourism industry forward.
Pilgrimage tourism has already found its niche, not just for the annual Martyrs Day celebrations, when thousands of Catholics from across Africa congregate in Uganda, but also establishing the everyday sort of pilgrimages as seen in Lourdes and other places of Catholic worship. Travelers from as far as Nigeria and South Africa have been flying into Entebbe to be in Uganda when Pope Francis arrives and then hope to be allowed to be in attendance when he celebrates a public Mass.
Said a source close to the President’s re-election campaign to this correspondent: ‘There was never any doubt that President Museveni would not halt his campaign to receive such an honoured guest. The President in fact had visited the Vatican earlier on to invite his Holiness to Uganda. We had hoped that visit could have taken place a year ago when it would have coincided with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Saints, but logistics were too difficult to do this in a rush. In fact, besides the President and the First Lady are all other presidential candidates invited to the celebrations of Mass. This is because on this occasion we are all Ugandans first and foremost and not candidates. The campaign will resume next week but for this weekend it will be like a ceasefire between them. This is a big event for Uganda and while the President leads the nation, it is everybody’s visit’.
From Uganda will Pope Francis then travel to the Central African Republic for a short visit before returning home to the Vatican.
