{"id":56310,"date":"2026-04-06T12:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:44:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:44:58","slug":"catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Bishops Invite Pope Leo for Historic Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Catholic Bishops of Sierra Leone and Liberia have officially extended an invitation to Pope Leo to visit Sierra Leone, a trip that would mark the first time the Pontiff has set foot in the nation, the faithful have been told.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Bishop Bob John H. Koroma of the Makemi Diocese announced the invitation during the Chrism Mass on April 1, 2026, at the Our Lady of Fatima Cathedral in Makeni.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to a visibly excited congregation, Bishop Koroma shared the update following his visit to the Vatican in March 2026. He informed worshippers that the bishops of both West African nations had formally invited Pope Leo to come to Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n<p>If the visit materialises, it would represent a landmark moment for the region\u2019s spiritual landscape, as no Pope has ever visited the country before.<\/p>\n<p>The Chrism Mass concluded with the traditional blessing of the Holy Oils \u2014 the Oil of the Sick, the Oil of Catechumens, and the Sacred Chrism \u2014 signifying the continued healing and strengthening of the Church for the year ahead.<\/p>\n<p>No date has yet been announced for the potential papal visit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Sierra-Leone<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Sierra-Leone. The Catholic Bishops of Sierra Leone and Liberia have officially extended an invitation to Pope Leo to visit Sierra Leone, a trip that would mark the first time the Pontiff has set foot in the nation, the faithful have been told. Bishop Bob John H. Koroma of the Makemi Diocese announced the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":56309,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[292],"class_list":["post-56310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-sierra-leone"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Catholic Bishops Invite Pope Leo for Historic Visit - Sierra Leone<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Catholic Bishops of Sierra Leone and Liberia have officially extended an invitation to Pope Leo to visit Sierra L ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Catholic Bishops Invite Pope Leo for Historic Visit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Catholic Bishops of Sierra Leone and Liberia have officially extended an invitation to Pope Leo to visit Sierra L ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sierra Leone\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T12:23:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T12:44:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/sm_1775466838.747217.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Catholic Bishops Invite Pope Leo for Historic Visit\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-06T12:23:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-06T12:44:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit\"},\"wordCount\":202,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/sites\/16\/2026\/04\/sm_1775466838.747217.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Sierra-Leone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/sierra-leone\/all-news\/catholic-bishops-invite-pope-leo-for-historic-visit\",\"name\":\"Catholic Bishops Invite Pope Leo for Historic Visit - 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