During his return flight following his apostolic trip to Africa, the Pope answered questions from the journalists accompanying him on the aircraft. The following are extensive extracts from questions posed and the Holy Father’s answers regarding his impressions of Africa, the Vatileaks case, his upcoming trips and COP 21.

The first question was from a Kenyan journalist who wanted to know the Pope’s views on the stories told by poor families in the Kangemi slum regarding exclusion from fundamental human rights due to avarice and corruption…

Pope Francis on Monday morning visited the Grand Mosque of Koudoukou in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, meeting with the city’s Muslim community.

The Holy Father was welcomed to the mosque by the Grand Imam Nehedi Tidjani, along with four other Imam, who accompanied him to the podium.

In his address, Pope Francis recalled the recent violence which has rocked the country, saying “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.”

“We are well aware that the recent events and acts of violence which have shaken your country were not grounded in properly religious motives…

Priests and religious, catechists and young people joined Pope Francis on Sunday evening for the celebration of Holy Mass in the Cathedral of Bangui, Central African Republic.  During the ceremony, the Pope opened the Holy Door of the Cathedral for the beginning of the Jubilee of Mercy. The Jubilee Year officially begins on 8 December. In his homily at the Mass the Pope spoke of the Christian vocation to love our enemies, saying it protects us “from the temptation to seek revenge and from the spiral of endless retaliation.”

Below, please find the full text of Pope Francis’ homily for the Holy Mass for the First Sunday of Advent, celebrated in Bangui’s Notre-Dame Cathedral…

Pope Francis on Thursday afternoon spoke about the importance of safeguarding the environment and ensuring a just distribution of the earth’s wealth as he address directors and staff of the United Nations Offices in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

The Pope said Africa offers the world a beauty and natural richness which inspire praise of the Creator. This patrimony of Africa and of all mankind, he said “is constantly exposed to the risk of destruction caused by human selfishness of every type and by the abuse of situations of poverty and exclusion”. 

In the context of economic relationships between States and between peoples, he continued “we cannot be silent about forms of illegal trafficking which arise in situations of poverty and in turn lead to greater poverty and exclusion.  Illegal trade in diamonds and precious stones, rare metals or those of great strategic value, wood, biological material and animal products, such as ivory trafficking and the relative killing of elephants, fuels political instability, organized crime and terrorism”.  This situation, Pope Francis said, “is a cry rising up from humanity and the earth itself, one which needs to be heard by the international community”…