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Pope Francis visits mosque in Muslim enclave of Central African Republic's capital

He also meets with Muslim and Christian leaders in divided country

Violence between Christian and Muslim militias has plunged country into chaos since 2013

Bangui, Central African Republic CNN  — 

Pope Francis visited a mosque in a Muslim neighborhood of the Central African Republic’s capital that has been a flashpoint for violent clashes, continuing his message of religious tolerance on the final leg of his African tour.

The visit to the mosque in Bangui’s PK5 district – a Muslim enclave that has been the site of violent clashes with Christian militias – was a powerful gesture in a country wracked with fierce intercommunal violence in recent years.

The stop in the besieged neighborhood – where Bangui’s sole remaining Muslim community remains locked in a standoff with surrounding Christian militias – also presented the greatest security challenge of the Pope’s three-day African visit.

His security detail of U.N. and French troops and the papal secret service was bolstered as Francis met with Muslim leaders in the embattled district, where he pronounced: “God is peace.”

Those who claim to believe in God must be men and women of peace, he continued.

First modern pope in a war zone

Francis’ arrival Sunday in the former French colony marked the first time in the modern era a pope had set foot in an active conflict zone, according to CNN senior Vatican analyst John Allen.

Thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced since the ouster of President Francois Bozize, a Christian, by a predominantly Muslim coalition of rebels in 2013, plunging the country of 5 million people into chaos.

Pope Francis blesses children in a refugee camp Sunday in Bangui.

About 15% of the country’s population is Muslim, according to the CIA World Factbook, with the remainder subscribing to Christian or indigenous beliefs.

Brutal retaliatory attacks between militias from the Christian majority and Muslim minority ensued, creating one of the world’s greatest humanitarian disasters. In recent months, a surge of violence has left more than 60 people dead.

But the instability has not deterred the Pope from traveling in an open-topped popemobile, or mixing with crowds throughout the capital.

On a visit to the St. Sauveur internally displaced persons camp Sunday in central Bangui, home to about 3,000 people uprooted by the conflict, Francis laid his hands on children’s heads in a gesture of blessing.

“My wish for you and for all Central Africans is peace,” he told them.

In further comments as he delivered Mass in the capital Sunday, he called on the warring factions to lay down their arms.

A unique opportunity

Allen said that, in spite of the risks, Pope Francis had been highly motivated to visit the Central African Republic, likely out of a conviction that “this was a place, uniquely, where perhaps a Christian spiritual leader could move the ball in the direction of peace.”

“Although CAR is a small country … it’s a place where the conflict basically breaks Christian-Muslim, and where Christians are the majority,” he said.

“I think Francis’ calculation was this is a place where if he called upon Christians either to lay down their arms or at least to stand back and allow peaceful elections to take place (in December), it could make a real difference.”

Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to begin in late December after being postponed last month due to ongoing violence.

The Pope met with Muslim and Protestant leaders as well as Catholic hierarchy during his two-day visit to the divided country, the final stop on his landmark African tour.

The Central African Republic is one of the poorest countries in the world.

On Monday, he arrived in Bangui’s Barthelemy Boganda Stadium to celebrate an open-air, final Mass of the tour before tens of thousands of worshipers.

He told them that the sufferings they had experienced were opportunities for an new future.

‘Let us pray for peace’

During his tour of Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic, Francis has repeatedly struck on themes of reconciliation and tolerance.

He urged a gathering of religious leaders Thursday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, to “pray all men and women will see themselves as brothers and sisters, united in and through our difference.”

He has also used his first visit to Africa to raise issues such as poverty, corruption, climate change and poaching.

“This trip, in many ways, has captured all of the core themes of Francis’ papacy in miniature, from war and peace to interreligious dialogue to the environment to his passion for the poor,” Allen said.

“In terms of insight into Francis’ heart and mind, I think this journey has been remarkable.”

On Friday, he waded into the heart of a Kenyan shantytown, spreading a message of acceptance and lashing out at the elite for neglecting the poor.

Pope in Africa: Send us your #MessageToThePope

Francis also delivered a warning Thursday ahead of a climate change conference that began Monday in Paris. He urged nations to reach an agreement to curb fossil fuel emissions and to work together to find solutions to environmental degradation.

“It would be sad, and I dare say even catastrophic, were particular interests to prevail over the common good,” he said.

Pope’s visit highlights explosive growth of Catholic Church in Africa

Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, visited several countries in Africa. During his nearly three decades in the papacy, Pope John Paul II also made dozens of trips to the continent.  

CNN’s Moni Basu, Isha Sesay, Robyn Kriel, Christine Theodorou, Radina Gigova and Don Melvin and journalist Idris Mukhtar contributed to this report.