Factbox-Pope Francis heads to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan

FILE PHOTO: Pope Francis looks at a child during the weekly general audience at the Vatican, January 25, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Pope Francis next week heads to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, two countries grappling with conflict and profound poverty, in what will be his third visit to sub-Saharan Africa since he became pope in 2013.

For the South Sudan leg, the leader of the world's nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics will be joined by his Anglican counterpart, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and by the Church of Scotland Moderator -- an unprecedented joint foreign trip by the three religious leaders.