Pope Francis tells African leaders to be humble

On his first tour of the world’s poorest continent, Pope Francis has told African leaders that they could do with less pomp and more humility.

In a region where presidents in cavalcades of luxury vehicles speed past slums and where the public complain about corruption in high office, the pope was cheered as he drove in a small Honda and told national leaders to act with integrity.

Kenya’s prolific Twitter users noticed the contrast.

“Thieving politicians arrive in their SUVs and Mercs to listen to @Pontifex, who will arrive in a Honda. Shameless ‘leaders’,” wrote @Kunj_Shah.

Francis, who has spurned the perks of the Vatican, shunned the armoured cars with tinted glass which were driven by president Uhuru Kenyatta and his entourage.

Nor did he follow the example of previous visitors, such as US president Barack Obama, who, in July, arrived with an army of security personnel, and a bullet-proof limousine dubbed ‘the Beast’.

The pope waved to rapturous crowds from his white popemobile, which has open sides, despite pouring rain, and was ferried around Nairobi in the Honda that local media said cost a modest $14,700.

“The pope is down-to-earth,” said Lucy Musyoka, 48, who braved a downpour to attend open-air mass in a sodden Nairobi University sports field.

“It is good for our leaders to notice. They like the wealth of the world, but they can’t understand the people of our country,” she said. “It is vanity.”

The pope will go to Uganda and the Central African Republic, a nation mired in sectarian conflict.

He dismissed security concerns, joking with reporters that the “only thing I’m concerned about is the mosquitoes”.

Barely two hours after arriving in Nairobi, Francis told the president, and dignitaries, that they had a duty to care for the poor and to support the aspirations of the young.

“I encourage you to work with integrity and transparency for the common good, and to foster a spirit of solidarity at every level of society,” he said, speaking in the elegant surroundings of State House, the Kenyan president’s official residence.

A day earlier, Kenyatta had reshuffled his cabinet, after several ministers were embroiled in corruption allegations.

Kenyatta, a Catholic, like 30% of Kenya’s 45m people, said in his welcome to the pope: “Your Holiness, like you, as a nation we want to combat the vices of corruption, which sacrifice people and the environment in the pursuit of illegal profit.

"Holy Father, I ask for your prayer as we fight this war.”