Pope John Paul II celebrates a papal mass in South Africa

On 17 September 1995, the Roman Catholic’s Pope John Paul II celebrated a papal mass in South Africa as he began his six day tour of Africa. His visit to the country came seven years after the cleric angered the apartheid government when he refused to kiss the ground in 1988 when the papal plane he was travelling in was forced to land in the country because of bad weather conditions. During his visit in 1995, the Pope said: "Today my journey brings me to a new South Africa, a 'rainbow nation,' indicating the diversity of races, ethnic groups, languages and culture which characterize it." Four orphans representing different South African ethnic groups presented the Pope with a basket of earth as he stepped off the papal plane. The State President Nelson Mandela said: "To say this visit is long overdue is to pay tribute to your own abhorrence of the system of apartheid," The main objective of his visit to the African continent was to present a papal document outlining the Roman Catholic Church's future on the continent.