Pope Francis to dine with the poor in Kangemi, Nairobi

Pope Francis

NAIROBI: Pope Francis will visit a little-known Catholic Parish in Nairobi's Kangemi neighbourhood on the final day of his three-day visit into the country in November, that is according to the official itinerary that the Vatican released Saturday.

The visit to Kangemi, a poor neighbourhood in Kenya, plus another visit to Uganda's House of Charity in Nalukolongo and a tour of a refugee camp and a meeting with Muslims in Central Africa Republic in the five-day African tour is characteristic of Pope Francis' humility and style of dining with the poor.

Though in Kenya and CAR, the Pope is scheduled to meet the respective Heads of State and Government, the Ugandan schedule is silent on whether the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni will meet the Pope.

In all countries that the Head of the Catholic Church will be visiting, there is a spot for a meeting with youth, the clergy and a meeting with the bishops.

The schedule of the Pope's visit to Kenya shows that he will arrive in Nairobi on Wednesday evening and head straight to State House Nairobi, where he will spend half-an-hour with President Kenyatta and then meet Kenya's administration and all the diplomats in the country who have been invited to the meeting at the presidential residence.

The date with State House is because the Pope will not just be visiting as the Head of the Catholic Church in the world, but because he is also the Head of the Vatican State, the little city-state inside Rome, Italy that serves as the headquarters of the Catholic Church.

The following day Holy Father is also expected to hold an interdenominational meeting with religious leaders in the country at the residence of the Apostolic Nuncio – his representative in the country. After that meeting which is scheduled to last for just under two hours, the Pope will then go to the University of Nairobi grounds for the Papal Mass.

The Mass plus lunch is scheduled to last until 1545hours when the Pope again will head to St Mary's School in Lavington –Muthangari neighbourhood where he will hold another meeting with the "with clergy, religious men and women, and seminarians, at the athletic field".

St Mary's School is where President Kenyatta went to school. After the open-air meeting at St Mary's School, the Pope will leave for the United Nations Office in Nairobi. Kenyatta is a practicing catholic.

On his last day , Friday, the Pope will spend an hour and half at the St Joseph the Worker Parish on, Friday morning,in the country, before heading to the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani for a meeting with "young people, and later a meeting with all the Catholic Bishops in Kenya just inside the VIP room at Kasarani. After that meeting the Pope will head to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport where the State and the Kenyan faithful will hold a farewell ceremony for him and then he will leave Nairobi for Uganda.

In Uganda, the schedule does not show whether the Pope will meet President Museveni or not, because for the two days, the Pope will be at Namugongo, to visit the Anglican and Catholic Sanctuary of the Martyrs at Namugongo. He will have mass there on Saturday, and then go and have a meeting with the youth at Kololo Airstrip in Kampala.

The Pope will also the House of Charity of Nalukolongo, hold a meeting with bishops of Uganda in the Residence of the Archbishop and then have a meeting with with priests, religious men and women, and seminarians in the Cathedral on Saturday evening. When he wakes up on Sunday, he will have a farewell ceremony at Entebbe Airport and then leave for Bangui, the capital of CAR.

As soon as he jets in in Bangui, the Pope will have a meeting with the interim leaders at the Presidential Palace "de la Renaissance", meet the country's government, leaders and the diplomats serving in the tiny country, head to a refugee camp, meet the bishops and then have a meeting with the Evangelical Community at the headquarters of FATEB (the Faculty of Evangelical Theology of Bangui).

That Sunday evening, the Pope will hold mass "with priests, religious men and women, catechists, and young people at the Cathedral of Bangui".

Two hours later, he is scheduled to hear "confessions of some young people; and the beginning of the Vigil of Prayer in front of the Cathedral".

On Monday, he will have a meeting with the Muslim community in the central Mosque of Koudoukou in Bangui, celebrate the Holy Mass in the Stadium at the Barthélémy Boganda Sports and then depart for the eight hour flight to Rome's Ciampino Aiport aboard his specialized chartered plane.