Pope to Consecrate Controversial Basilica in Ivory Coast

Pope John Paul II will consecrate a controversial basilica in Ivory Coast and give his blessing to a hospital that is to be built next to it at his request, the Vatican said Saturday.

The Pope will stop in the West African country on Sept. 10, at the end of a 10-day African trip that will first take him to Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro said.

Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, in Ivory Coast’s capital, cost about $200 million, an expense that drew criticism in the poor country. Plans called for it to be almost as big as St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Christendom’s largest church.

Last year, in a private audience with the Pope at the Vatican, President Felix Houphouet-Boigny offered the Pope ownership of the church as a gift, Navarro said.

“Accepting this donation, the Holy Father asked that the works carried out be integrated with other projects of assistance and social nature on the property” next to the church, Navarro added.

A hospital, planned to handle 300 to 400 outpatients a day, will be built next to the church, and the Pope, along with consecrating the basilica, will bless the cornerstone of the hospital, Navarro said.

Navarro said that an international foundation will be established to manage the site, which the Catholic Church hopes will become a center of pilgrimage for African Catholics.