--- title: Pope Francis Visits Africa, Retraces First Papal Trip There description: Pope Francis arrives in Kenya on Wednesday; Pope Paul VI touched down in Uganda 46 years ago canonical: https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/ author: Julia Zorthian article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-24T23:22:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:04:46.703Z article:section: History og:title: The Story of the First Time a Pope Visited Africa og:description: Pope Francis arrives in Kenya on Wednesday; Pope Paul VI touched down in Uganda 46 years ago og:url: https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb30e3c79c3c6f1d/698872abab6d776fff6a74e9/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pope Paul VI is greeting the exulting people in the outskirts of Kampala og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Story of the First Time a Pope Visited Africa twitter:description: Pope Francis arrives in Kenya on Wednesday; Pope Paul VI touched down in Uganda 46 years ago twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb30e3c79c3c6f1d/698872abab6d776fff6a74e9/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Pope Francis' Trip Retraces the First Papal Visit to Africa ## Video: TIME Raw: Pope Francis Arrives in Kenya [Watch (HLS stream): TIME Raw: Pope Francis Arrives in Kenya](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qfaryxeq.m3u8) (0:54)  _Published 2015-11-25. TIME Raw: Pope Francis Arrives in Kenya_  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 24, 2015 11:22 PM UTC  Pope Paul VI greeting people while in the outskirts of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Aug. 1, 1969. Pope Paul VI greeting people while in the outskirts of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Aug. 1, 1969.Mondadori / Getty Images  by [Julia Zorthian](https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Nov 24, 2015 11:22 PM UTC The crowd at the Entebbe airport had been waiting for hours, but spirits were high — drummers, singers and dancers milled about while the Police Band prepared to perform the Ugandan National Anthem. The Ugandan President was on hand to greet the celebrated guest, along with four other heads of African states. Then Paul VI touched down on the tarmac, and on July 31, 1969, became the first reigning Pope to ever visit Africa. “Roman Catholics number about 3,000,000 in Uganda—one of Africa’s most Christianized countries,” [TIME reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1969-08-08/page/80/) in the next issue, “But during the visit of Pope Paul VI last week, it seemed as if all of its 9,000,000 citizens had become instant Romans.” On Wednesday, Pope Francis will travel to Africa for his first papal visit to that continent. The visit comes nearly half a century after Paul’s, but Francis’ route in Uganda will retrace some of his predecessor’s steps. Paul was primarily concerned with working towards peace for the Nigerian Civil War, TIME reported, but the trip to Uganda was planned so he could dedicate a shrine to 22 African Catholic martyrs. At the time, the Catholic Church in Africa was rapidly growing and Paul’s meetings with church leaders focused largely on increasing the independence of the developing communities. “You are missionaries to yourselves now,” said the Pope. This time around, Pope Francis will also [address an ongoing civil war](http://time.com/4126165/pope-francis-central-african-republic/) and an [evolving Catholic population](http://time.com/4124410/pope-francis-visit-africa-kenya-uganda-car/). In Namugongo, Paul dedicated the partially-built Uganda Martyrs Shrine and celebrated the Mass with more than 100,000 people. Francis will visit that same basilica to celebrate Mass on Nov. 28. And at least one other element of that 1969 trip is sure to be repeated too: the excitement. As TIME reported, Paul’s visit was the occasion for much rejoicing: --- > “” --- **_Read the full story from 1969, here in the TIME Vault:_** [A Sacred Safari for the Pope](http://time.com/vault/issue/1969-08-08/page/80/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/"},"headline":"How Pope Francis' Trip Retraces the First Papal Visit to Africa","datePublished":"2015-11-24T23:22:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:04:46.703Z","description":"Pope Francis arrives in Kenya on Wednesday; Pope Paul VI touched down in Uganda 46 years ago","url":"https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/","keywords":["faith","Pope Francis topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb30e3c79c3c6f1d/698872abab6d776fff6a74e9/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdb30e3c79c3c6f1d/698872abab6d776fff6a74e9/pope.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pope Paul VI is greeting the exulting people in the outskirts of Kampala","caption":"Pope Paul VI is greeting the exulting people in the outskirts of Kampala","creditText":"Mondadori / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/faith/","name":"faith"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/","name":"How Pope Francis' Trip Retraces the First Papal Visit to Africa"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME Raw: Pope Francis Arrives in Kenya","description":"TIME Raw: Pope Francis Arrives in Kenya","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/qfaryxeq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-11-25T20:15:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qfaryxeq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/","duration":"PT54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4125962/pope-paul-vi-first-africa-visit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```