VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis embarks Wednesday on his first trip to Africa, visiting three countries in a papal tour overshadowed by security concerns.

NAIROBI, Kenya - A Kenyan bishop said the church is comfortable with the security preparations for the reception of Pope Francis, in the wake of the Paris attacks that appear to have targeted crowded areas.

NAIROBI, Kenya - From stitching 2,000 vestments to training large-scale security teams, Catholic Church leaders and Kenyan officials say they’re ready to host Pope Francis.

NAIROBI, Kenya - The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops called on Kenyans to prepare for Pope Francis' first visit to Africa at the end of November by embracing peace and co-existence and with prayer.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Pope Francis’ visit to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi Nov. 25–27 will bring healing and reconciliation to the East African nation that has suffered key setbacks in the recent past, senior bishops here say.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Clerics in Kenya are backing a presidential decree banning homemade brews, largely blamed for a recent spate of deaths in the East African nation.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Roman Catholic bishops in Kenya have urged citizens to boycott a mass polio vaccination campaign, unless the safety of the vaccine has been confirmed through scientific tests.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Recent attacks by Somalia’s al-Shabab Muslim militant group have forced the closure of dozens of schools in Kenya’s north, as Christian teachers refuse to work because of security fears.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis mourned the deaths of all those killed in extremist and ethnic violence in Kenya, and admonished the perpetrators to "come to their senses and seek mercy."

NAIROBI, Kenya - Faced with a fierce enemy driven by Muslim extremist ideology, the Kenyan government has cracked down on funding for al-Shabab, the Somali group that claimed responsibility for killing 148 mostly Christian students at Garissa University College a week ago.

The pre-Easter tragedies of the German jet deliberately flown into the French Alps and the terrorist attack at a Kenyan university have several links, some not all that obvious.

NAIROBI, Kenya - The president of the Kenyan bishops' conference called on Easter worshippers to commit themselves to praying for peace and security in their homeland after militants attacked a college campus days earlier.

NAIROBI, Kenya - As Good Friday services began here, Christian and Muslim leaders preached unity a day after a horrific terrorist attack at Garissa University College left 147 students dead, most of them Christians.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Somalia's al-Shabab militants shot and killed more than 147 people, wounded dozens of others and held hundreds hostage April 2 at Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya.

NAIROBI, Kenya - Drying livestock carcasses and anguished faces of hungry women and children have become a common feature here as droughts increase due to climate change.