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Pope Francis shuns Nigeria despite having highest numbers of Catholics in the continent.

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Pope Francis shuns Nigeria despite having highest numbers of Catholics in the continent.

Pope Francis shuns Nigeria despite having highest numbers of Catholics in the continent.
November 30
15:49 2015

When Pope Francis II announced his intention to visit Africa, everybody thought Nigeria should be the first on the list, largely due to the fact that Nigeria has one of the highest populations of Catholics in the world. But Nigeria was not included in the last at all, talk less of topping the list.
Pope Francis II has been on a 6-day visit to three different African countries– Central African Republic, Kenya, and Uganda. Catholics in Nigeria are angry as to why the Pope didn’t include Nigeria in his list.
Nigeria has the highest number of Catholics in Africa. More than 10% of Nigerians are Catholics.
In 2014, the former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, paid a courtesy visit to the Pope in the Vatican. The Pope made a promise to visit Nigeria because of his keen interest in the country. But his recent visit to Africa shunning Nigeria raises a lot of questions.
Some are saying Pope Francis decided to shun Nigeria is due to the insecurity situation in the nation, but for him to have visited Central Africa Republic, which is embroiled in a civil war between the predominantly Muslim Séléka rebel coalition and Christian government forces, and also Kenya who has been consistently attacked by the Al-shabab terrorist group, then him not visiting Nigeria may not be due to that.
Could it also be that because President Buhari missed a very important event on Boko Haram and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and was also prevented from meeting with Pope Francis? Not only was Buhari made to come in late to the meeting because of untidy arrangements, he also took a wrong entrance rather than the one reserved for presidents and heads of state. He was subsequently prevented from seeing the Pope by security operatives because of his late arrival.
But it rather surprising that the Pope has forgotten his promise to Nigerians. The Pope had refused to include Nigeria in his list despite the attack by terrorists. Most people believe that his message of peace would have also helped in the stability of the country.

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Opeyemi

Opeyemi

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