Pope Francis arrived in Uganda Friday on the first papal visit to the African country in the last two decades.
His plane touched down at Entebbe Airport, nearly 20 miles southwest of the capital Kampala, at around 3:30 p.m. on Friday. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, several government officials and church leaders received him at the airport.
The 78-year-old Argentine pontiff praised Ugandans for welcoming refugees.
"Here in East Africa, Uganda has shown outstanding concern for welcoming refugees, enabling them to rebuild their lives in security and to sense the dignity which comes from earning one's livelihood through honest labor," he said, according to the Catholic News Agency.
"How we deal with them is a test of our humanity, our respect for human dignity, and above all our solidarity with our brothers and sisters in need," he added.
The Pope, during his two-day stay in Uganda, is set to visit shrines in memory of martyred Christians at Munyonyo and Namugongo, according to ANSA.
Pope Francis began his six-day historic trip to Africa with a visit to Kenya. He addressed a massive gathering of Kenyan youths at Nairobi's Kasarani's stadium on Friday.
"The spirit of evil takes us to a lack of unity. It takes us to tribalism, corruption and drugs. It takes us to destruction out of fanaticism. Corruption is like sugar: sweet. We like it; it's easy. Also in the Vatican, there are cases of corruption. Please don't develop the taste for that sugar which is called corruption," he said, according to The Independent. "Corruption is in all the institutions, corruption is everywhere, there's corruption in the Vatican too," he admitted.
The pontiff, in the final leg of his Africa trip, will travel to the Central African Republic (CAR) on Sunday, as HNGN previously reported. CAR has been hit by serious violence between Christian and Muslim militias in recent years.
