South Africa: Voodoo, Snakes, Condoms and the Pope's New African Reality

analysis

The Pope was in Africa this weekend, visiting the little West African country of Benin which is producing priests a lot faster than anywhere in Europe. It seems the future of the Catholic Church is in Africa, and it looks like the Pope knows it.

On the second day of his trip to Benin - a country referred to all too often in the international media coverage as either simply "Africa" or the "the heartland of Africa's voodoo religion" - Pope Benedict XVI unveiled the Catholic Church's Pledge for Africa. The importance of this document should not be underestimated, as it is the guide by which Africa's Catholics are supposed to live their lives - and there are a lot of African Catholics. It tells them how to deal with the conflicts between tradition and modernity, what to think about HIV/Aids and urges peace, justice and reconciliation on the continent.

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