Pope Francis is set visit the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa and Goma from July 2 to 5.
He will then after, head to Juba, South Sudan, from July 5 to 7.
The announcement of the DRC visit was made by both the Prime Minister and the Catholic Church in Kinshasa on Thursday.
Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said the Pontiff “will have a message of reconciliation and encouragement.”
The visit, he said, “follows an official invitation” from the Congolese government.
The government‘s spokesman Patrick Muyaya says “the Pope comes to DRC 37 years after Pope John Paul II visit”.
Meanwhile the Pope’s visit to Juba has been repeatedly delayed over security concerns.
He had hoped to go to Juba in 2015 and in 2017.
South Sudan withdrew from Sudan in July 2011 but two years later a civil war erupted, causing about 400,000 deaths.
The rival groups signed a peace deal, in 2018.
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