As you are all aware, another high profile visitor is making his way to our beautiful country. Pope Francis is coming to the country in two weeks, making him the 2ndhigh profile visitor to visit our country after Obama who came to Kenya in July.
While we await his arrival, let us learn a little but about our revered visitor:
1.He was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2. Before he joined the seminary he worked for a short time as a chemical technologist and nightclub bouncer.
3. He became the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 13th March 2013, 44 years after he was ordained as a priest.
4.In December of the same year, he was named Person of the Year by Timemagazine.
5.He made history as the first citizen from the Americas, the first non-European and the first Jesuit priest to be named pope. Jesuist priests are a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers founded by the soldier-turned-priest Ignatius Loyola.
6.Pope Francis will be the second pope to visit Kenya after the late Pope John Paul who attended the forty-third International Eucharistic Congress back in 1985.
7. Unlike most leaders of his caliber who like to ride in huge Sports Utility Vehicles, armored limousines and muscle cars, the pope has been noted for humility. Favoring the humble Fiat 500L and other down-to-earth cars such as an old blue Ford, Toyotas, Isuzu and Kia.
8. Pope Paul’s modest ways do not stop with the mode of transport he choses to use. Unlike other popes who chose to dwell in the alluring Apostolic Palace, Pope Paul lives in a humble room at the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse.
9. He is the first pope to open the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) dialogue and under his leadership, the Catholic Church is evolving and giving a listening ear to LGBT issues. Recently, the Vatican even met up with the U.S. State Department’s Gay and Lesbian Envoy.
10. He is an environmental activist and even demanded justice for the environment in a powerful speech delivered to the United Nations .Urging people to stop harming the environment as it in turns harms us. “The ecological crisis, and the large-scale destruction of biodiversity, can threaten the very existence of the human species.” he said.
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