Airtel takes Platinum spot sponsorship with Catholic Church ahead of Pope’s visit to Kenya

Bharti Airtel has partnered with the Catholic Church as a platinum sponsor for the upcoming historic visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Kenya.

The company has donated Ksh. 10 million to the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) to support the ongoing preparations by the Catholic Church to welcome the Pope who will be visiting the country between 25th and 27th November 2015.

Airtel has made this commitment in light of the importance of the papal visit to Kenya, and in recognition of the continuous contribution by the Catholic Church towards improving the spiritual, economic and social development of Kenyans.

The cheque was presented by the company management led by Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi to the KCCB team during a fundraising dinner held on Friday evening at Kenyatta International Convention Centre and presided over by retired President His Excellency Mwai Kibaki in preparation for the upcoming papal visit.

“The local Catholic Church was not able to shoulder the heavy budgetary needs alone. But we are grateful for those who have stepped up especially the government and corporates like Airtel,” Cardinal John Njue said adding that the success of the Pope’s visit will be determined by the combined efforts of generous Kenyans.

Airtel Kenya CEO Adil El Youssefi thanked the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops for the opportunity to partner and contribute towards this noble cause and historic visit by Pope Francis.

“As a corporate, we are truly humbled for this unique opportunity to contribute to the preparations of the historic Papal visit that will see Kenya being visited by a sitting Pope for only the second time ever. This is also an opportunity for our customers to come in and support by sending any amount of money using Airtel Money to contribute to the same noble cause,” said Adil.

At the same time, Airtel has also unveiled a Catholic Portal that will enable the over 14 million Catholics to access religious information at all times through their phone on the Airtel network.  One can access the Catholic portal by dialing IVR Code 0900730777 FREE of charge. Once subscribed, they will have access to unlimited usage of the service and will be able to listen to any content or dial-in several times in a day as long as the subscription is valid.  The subscriptions options are available at Ksh5 for Daily subscription, Ksh 25 for Weekly subscription and/or Ksh 70 for Monthly subscription. The portal provides Catholic services such as Holy Rosary, Mass Gospel reading, Vatican radio, Hymns, Prayers, Verse of the day,Bible reading, Bible stories for kids and Gospel songs.