Pope Francis arrived in Kinshasa on Tuesday for a four-day visit to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC), the first leg of a tour that will also take him to
South Sudan.
"We've been waiting for a year, it's a beautiful trip, I would have liked to go to Goma but, because of the war, I can't," Jorge Bergoglio, 86, told reporters who accompanied him on the plane.
The pontiff's plane took off from Rome at 4:30 in the morning and landed around noon this Tuesday at the Kinshasa airport, where it was received by authorities.
The pontiff got off the plane in a wheelchair.
The Pope descends from the plane in a wheelchair.
Photo: Ansa
A prayer over the Sahara
As the plane flew over the Sahara desert, the pope asked
for "a prayer for all the people who seek a bit of well-being
, a bit of freedom" fleeing their countries, hoping to reach Europe.
"They arrive in the Mediterranean after having crossed the desert and end up in fields where they suffer," he stressed.
a postponed visit
Initially scheduled for July 2022, the visit had to be postponed
due to knee pain
suffered by Francisco, 86, who uses a wheelchair, as well as security problems in Goma, in the northeast of the country. stage that was cancelled.
The Argentine pontiff wishes for his 40th international trip to bring
a message of peace and reconciliation
to this country plagued by violence and misery.
In the DRC,
with approximately 100 million inhabitants,
two-thirds of whom live on less than $2.15 a day, the pontiff will speak "of the armed confrontations and exploitation" suffered by this country rich in natural resources, but with an impoverished population, according to the same pope in advance in the Sunday angelus.
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