Saturday, March 22, 2014

Pope Francis to visit Nigeria, says Goodluck



Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan hinted on Saturday that Pope Francis is promising to visit Africa's most populous nation.

A statement from the office of the presidency didn’t give any timing for the visit proposed when Jonathan and his wife Patience met the Roman Catholic leader at the Vatican City.

It says they discussed poverty alleviation and inter-faith dialogue.

Nigeria's population is divided almost equally between Muslims and Christians who periodically clash in deadly confrontations. Catholics make up about a quarter of Christians, an estimated 21 million Nigerians. 

Many Christians belong to evangelical churches that have been winning converts from traditional churches.
Pope Francis has committed to travel to the Holy Land and South Korea in 2014 and said he wants to visit the Philippines and Sri Lanka in coming years. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, visited Africa twice.

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