Uhuru Becomes First Kenyan President to Visit the Vatican Palace, Meets Pope Francis
President Kenyatta held a meeting with Pope Francis during his official visit to the State of Vatican.
He landed in Italy on Thursday evening aboard a Kenya Airways aircraft and was welcomed to the Vatican Palace by the pontiff—his host.
Kenyatta, who is in Rome at the invitation of Pope Francis, became the first Kenyan president to visit the Vatican.
On arrival at the official Papal residence, Uhuru was accorded a full Apostolic Palace State reception comprising a guard of honor mounted by the Pontifical Swiss Guards, an army of 135 highly-trained marksmen tasked with protecting the Pope and the Vatican Palace.
Uhuru later held a private meeting with Pope Francis before leading a small Kenyan delegation in bilateral talks with their hosts led by Cardinal Bishop Pietro Parolin, who is Secretary of State of the Holy See and runs the Secretariat of State and Diplomatic Service of the Vatican City State.
The discussions touched on several subjects of mutual interest including education, health, regional peace and security, and the fight against Covid-19. Kenya established diplomatic ties with the Holy See in 1965.
“This visit is extremely rare. The reason that it is rare is that it is not usual for the Holy Father to have an audience with just any Head of State. He values the role that our President is playing in very many aspects,” Kenya’s envoy to the Vatican Prof. Judi Wakhungu said ahead of Uhuru’s visit.
“We expect our two Heads of State, in other words, the Holy Father and His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, to discuss, compare notes and strategies on Kenya’s important role in the UN Security Council.”
Uhuru is also slated to pay a courtesy call on his Italian President Sergio Materrela on Saturday at the Quirinal Palace in Rome.
The two leaders are expected to discuss various subjects of mutual interest between Kenya and Italy among them trade and investment, as well as the fight against Covid-19.
Uhuru is being accompanied by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo among other government officials.
Comments (2)
omba omba itaisha lini juzi alikuwa Ufaransa kuomba tutajitegemea siku gani.Ndio sababu WaAfrika hatuheshiwi na nchi zingine.
The world and especially the Catholic Church followers should be reminded that, it was Pope Nicholas the Fifth of the Roman Catholic Church who initiated the Atlantic African Slave Trade. He argued that, Africans did not have a soul, and should therefore be sold as slaves.
The first African was captured by the Portuguese and sold as a slave in 1441. The outcome of the Pope's decision almost destroyed the African family. Descendants of his decision are still suffering because they have not yet been accepted as equal human beings as the Europeans who settled in the Americas. The late George Floyd is an extension of the pope's inhuman and irrational decision that affected the Africans at home and in diaspora.
All Africans should disassociate themselves from the Catholic church. In addition, Africans should detach themselves from any religion whose blind followers sold Africans into slavery.
The diversity of human visible differences is not man-made. It is a product of "The Invisible Power Behind All Creations And Diversity." This invisible power is what I call the CREATOR. The CREATOR is neither male or female. Therefore, using the pronoun "HE" to define the CREATOR is an insult. The CREATOR's job was finished when people were given a brain in the mother's womb. The people who have used their brains to the maximum have fewer societal problems than those who have chosen to do so.
I just wonder what the Africans are doing in places of worship designed by former slave owners who don't acknowledge or respect the CREATOR as the sole power behind all creations and diversity! The slave owners lied to the Africans about prosperity after death in heaven while they prospered while alive on planet earth.