Pope may make first trip
to Africa next year
This story boosts a June 21 report report by Apcom which I translated and posted on Page 192 of this thread. Sorry I haven't had a chance to check out today's Avvenire myself.
VATICAN CITY, June 29 (Reuters) - Pope Benedict may travel to Africa next year for the first time as Pontiff, a senior Vatican official said in comments published on Sunday.
Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone said the decision on which countries the German-born Pope might visit would depend partly on geopolitical and security concerns.
"The Pope's travel agenda for 2009 has not yet been set. But it's true that this hypothesis is being worked on," Bertone told Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference.
"The Church in Africa deserves a trip by the Pope, who has already visited or is preparing to visit the other continents."
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, travelled widely throughout Africa during his more than 26-year pontificate, including to Tunisia, Morocco, Tanzania, Senegal and Uganda.
Pope Benedict will start the longest visit of his pontificate on July 12 when he leaves for a 10-day trip to Australia. It will be Benedict's 9th trip outside Italy since his election in April 2005.
This was the Apcom report:
Benedict may visit
Africa in 2009
VATICAN CITY, June 21 (Translated from Apcom) - It has been learned from Vatican sources that the Holy See is arranging for Pope Benedict XVI to visit Africa for the first time as Pope perhaps as early as next year.
The exact first destination is under study, and the sources say an African trip is unlikely to cover several countries. But they say the place will be chosen depending on where it will be best to re-launch the Christian message on the continent today.
Language will be a factor in a country where English and French survive from colonial times as 'common language' alongside hundreds of local languages and dialects.
The sources said that, for instance, because of its size and for its being very 'representative' of the continent, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Belgian Congo, known as Zaire from 1971-1997), whose President Joseph Kabila, visited the Pope last week and invited him to his country, could well be one of the first destinations.
In his three years as Pope, Benedict has visited Europe four times,
Asia once (Turkey, whose territory is mostly on the Asian continent) and the Americas. Later this year, he will visiting France.
John Paul II was the first Pope to visit Africa, and he did so several times over the course of his long Pontificate - in 1980, 1982, 1985, twice in 1988, 1989, twice in 1990, twice in 1992, 1993 and 1995.
