Pope Francis lashed out at wealthy minorities who hoard resources at the expense of the poor as he visited a crowded Nairobi slum on Friday, wrapping up the first-leg of a three nation tour.

Huge crowds braved heavy rains they hailed as “God’s blessing” on Thursday to take part in Pope Francis’ first open-air mass in Africa, singing and dancing in the centre of the Kenyan capital.

Pope Francis on Wednesday warned of the need to tackle poverty as a key driver of conflict and violence as he kicked off a landmark Africa trip fraught with security concerns.

Kenya said on Sunday it may deploy as many as 10,000 police officers to boost security during a visit by Pope Francis later this month as the country readies for crowds of one million people.

Pope Francis has granted a “plenary indulgence”, or religious pardon, to the ultra-conservative Legion of Christ movement, mired in a paedophile scandal, provided its members perform acts of penance, Vatican Radio said Thursday.

Pope Francis will visit a refugee camp and a mosque in the Central African Republic as well as a slum in Kenya during a trip to Africa next month loaded with potential security risks.

National leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, on Monday, lampooned President Muhammadu Buhari, saying that Nigeria’s snubbing of the meeting of countries affected by insurgency at the 70th United Nation’s General Assembly meeting was an insult to the country.

World leaders on Friday pledged to end extreme poverty within 15 years, adopting an ambitious set of UN goals to be backed up by trillions of dollars in development spending.

POPE Francis, born, Jorge Mario Bergoglio and known widely, as a pacifist, is visiting the United States, a famous warrior nation, for six days from September 22. Just as the hood does not make a monk, so does a papal regalia, not make a pacifist. There have been warmongering Popes like Pope Urban II who militarily, mobilised Europe in 1095 to attack parts of Europe and the Middle East in the name of a crusade. The wars ignited by that Pope, raged for over two centuries leaving massive destruction, wasted lives and horrendous massacres of Judaists, Muslims and Christians.

The Catholic Pontiff, Pope Francis, has told Catholic faithful to be courageous and supportive of the work of evangelisation, in spite of  the challenges facing missionaries around the world.

Pope Francis on Friday called for the Catholic Church and its faithful to rid themselves of earthly concerns like St Francis of Assisi during a pilgrimage to the saint’s Italian hometown.

Pope Francis appealed Sunday to the international community to help find a solution to the civil war in Syria while denouncing a “proliferation in massacres and atrocities” there.

The first 20yrs of my life, I seriously had this dream of being a priest. I was overfed with an overdose of religion which has always been a very serious business in my family. You dare not be late for morning mass or else you get the whipping of your life, yes my father was that strict, no nonsense when it came to going to church or anything spiritual. That’s where I’m coming from, we were a family that prayed together and were very staunch Catholics for that matter.

Pope Francis declared on Monday that it was not his place to judge homosexuals and said they should not be marginalised but condemned the gay lobby as a “serious problem”.

VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Francis on Thursday bolstered criminal legislation against child abuse in the Vatican and increased criminal liability for employees of the tiny city state in a legislative overhaul. The Vatican said in a statement that the pope’s decree included “a broader definition of the category of crimes against minors” including child […]