MEETING CONFLICT VICTIMS
Francis is also due to meet victims of the conflict in eastern Congo in Kinshasa on Wednesday following the mega-Mass.
After that, he will talk to representatives from charitable organisations.
The DRC's turbulent east has long been plagued by dozens of armed groups. Since late 2021, M23 rebels have also captured swaths of territory in the eastern North Kivu province, coming close to its capital Goma.
The trip to DRC and South Sudan had originally been planned for July 2022, but it was postponed due to the pontiff's knee pain that has forced him in recent months to use a wheelchair.
Security concerns were also said to have played a role in delaying the trip, and a stop in Goma - a city of more than a million people on the border with Rwanda - is no longer on the itinerary.
"I would have liked to go to Goma too, but with the war, you can't go there," Francis told reporters on the plane on the way to the DRC.
The Argentine pontiff, in his speech in Kinshasa on Tuesday, urged the need to address the conflict and said that he supported regional peace efforts.
Francis also underlined the need for investment in education, and free and fair elections, among other issues.
On Friday, the pope will travel to South Sudan's capital Juba.
The current foreign papal visit is Francis' 40th since being elected in 2013.
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February 01, 2023 at 04:39PM
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Huge crowds turn out for pope's Mass in DR Congo capital - CNA
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