Pope Francis is using his 40th Apostolic Journey to Africa as an opportunity to spread a message of peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“Even in the East, peace is possible! Let us believe this! And let us work for it, without delegating it to others,” he said, according to Vatican News.

Another part of his message was shared in a Feb. 2 tweet: “Overcome evil with good. May you be the ones who transform society, the ones who turn evil into good, hatred into love, war into peace." 

Before leaving for his journey on Tuesday, Francis tweeted: “I greet with affection those beloved peoples who await me. I ask everyone, please, to accompany this journey with their prayers.”

This is his fifth trip to Africa, but it is the first time a pope has visited Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, since 1985, when Pope John Paul II traveled there. Francis will stop in South Sudan, and he will return home Friday. 

Francis met with President Felix Tshisekedi on Wednesday, then he addressed about 1,000 people, including political and religious leaders, with him. As expected, the pontiff called for an end to  the violence that has claimed the lives of millions over the past 20 years, according to Anadolu Agency. The Eastern Congo has been an especially dangerous region during that time. Pope Francis spoke to thousands of young people and he met with victims of violence from Eastern Congo, too. 

Pope Francis presided over an open-air liturgy that drew more than 1 million faithful to Kinshasa's secondary airport, N'Dolo, later Wednesday. Anadolu Agency said Kinshasa Province Police Commander Sylvano Kasongo had a security detail of 7,500 police personnel to ensure Pope Francis' safety at the airport. 

Pope Francis has now visited 60 countries since taking the helm of the Catholic Church. In Africa, he has been to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic in 2015, and Egypt in 2017. He traveled to Morocco in March 2019, then visited Mozambique, Madagascar and Mauritius in September of the same year, according to Vatican News. Africa is home to about 20% of the world's Catholics, and that number is on the rise.