ABUJA, Nigeria – Nigeria’s president says Pope Francis is promising to visit Africa’s most populous nation.
A statement from President Goodluck Jonathan’s office doesn’t give any timing for the visit proposed when Jonathan met the Roman Catholic leader at the Vatican over the weekend. It says they discussed poverty alleviation and inter-faith dialogue.
Nigeria’s population is divided almost equally between Muslims and Christians who periodically clash in deadly confrontations. Catholics make up about a quarter of the nation’s Christians, an estimated 21 million Nigerians. Many other Christians belong to evangelical churches that have been winning converts from traditional churches.
Pope Francis has committed to travel to the Holy Land and South Korea this year and said he wants to visit the Philippines and Sri Lanka in coming years. His predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, visited Africa twice.
