Before leaving the country on Sept. 6, Francis made a last, passionate appeal for reconciliation and the healing of wounds from the nation's long civil war.
During his sojourn in Madagascar on Sept. 8, Pope Francis will drive six miles from the center of Antananarivo, the capital city of this country of 27 million people, to visit the cooperative association Akamasoa.
He praised “the efforts made in recent decades to ensure that peace is once more the norm and reconciliation the best path to confront the difficulties and challenges that you face as a nation.”