Pope Francis’s message during his 2015 Kenya visit still rings

Pope Francis touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, minutes after 4 p.m. on the 25th of November, 2015, to a warm reception by the then President Uhuru Kenyatta.

His first state and pastoral visit to Kenya and Africa. The 266th pontiff’s stay in Kenya would see thousands of faithful, particularly from the Catholic Church, queue to welcome him. He was the second pope to visit Kenya after Pope John Paul II in 1985 and 1995.

Rain-soaked faithful, young and old, withstood the morning heavy downpour to listen to the pontiff, who led a Mass attended by thousands at the University of Nairobi grounds.

The memories of the service are still fresh in the minds of some of those who attended.

The papal dais at the University of Nairobi, which was built just before his visit, was declared by the government as a national monument. The building and the surrounding compound, measuring approximately one acre along Uhuru Highway, are protected by the government.

During the construction of the 27-km Nairobi Expressway—a four-lane dual carriageway—the contractors were forced to redesign the road to avoid the demolition of the dais.

The Pope’s open-air Mass at the packed Kasarani International Stadium urged leaders to shun tribal politics.

“Let us stand up against bad tribalism…” urged the pope.

The pontiff also called on politicians to keep off the ‘sugar’ of corruption.

“Corruption is something which eats inside. It is like sugar—sweet, we like it, it is easy. So much sugar that we end up being corrupt or our country becoming diabetic… Please don’t develop a taste for that sugar called corruption,” he said.

During the visit, the Pope also visited the Kangemi slum, where he called on those who have to share with the less fortunate in society.

At the height of the Gen Z-led protests in Kenya last year, the Pope, through his representative in Nairobi—the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen—lauded Gen Z for their fight for democratic space and the need to involve them in national matters, a position that rubbed the government the wrong way.