Pope John Paul II visited Uganda in February 1993, his second trip to the country — the first had been in 1969, when he came as Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. The 1993 visit carried particular weight given Uganda's traumatic intervening decades under Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and the Catholic Church's complicated role in surviving them.
Uganda issued commemorative silver pieces for the occasion through the Bank of Uganda, a practice common among developing nations seeking both seigniorage revenue and international collector interest. Most were sold directly to the numismatic market rather than circulating.
Pope John Paul II visited Uganda in February 1993, his second trip to the country — the first had been in 1969, when he came as Cardinal Karol Wojtyła. The 1993 visit carried particular weight given Uganda's traumatic intervening decades under Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and the Catholic Church's complicated role in surviving them.
Uganda issued commemorative silver pieces for the occasion through the Bank of Uganda, a practice common among developing nations seeking both seigniorage revenue and international collector interest. Most were sold directly to the numismatic market rather than circulating.