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Five reasons the papal trip to Africa is important
by John L Allen Jr on Mar. 13, 2009
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Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionWhenever there’s big papal news in the air, my phone usually rings off the hook from media outlets in various parts of the globe. If the phone isn’t ringing, therefore, it’s a fairly reliable sign that the pope is currently flying below radar.
On the cusp of Pope Benedict XVI’s maiden voyage to Africa, visiting Cameroon and Angola March 17-23, the silence from my phone is deafening.
While anything’s possible, my sense heading into the trip is that barring some bolt from the blue, most news organizations are likely to settle for brief and generic accounts. If so, it will be both tragic and a journalistic miscalculation, for reasons I’ll develop below.
First, let me outline the motives for the neglect.
In the first place: It’s the economy, stupid. Airfare for the papal plane this time costs $7,000, and when you throw in six nights in overpriced hotels, food, fees for visas and accreditation, Internet time, and so on, news organizations are looking at $10,000 or more to send a correspondent as part of the papal party. Under any circumstances that’s a hefty investment, but in the midst of a global depression, it’s understandably more than some editors are willing to shell out. (I know of a few reporters who normally travel with the pope not making the trip for this reason, and I’m flying commercial, not on the papal plane, to hold down costs.)
In part, the Africa swing is the victim of bad timing. Just days ago, dates for Benedict’s trip in May to the Holy Land were announced. Given the drama of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, combined with tumult surrounding the pope’s decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop, the Israel trip looms as a far “sexier” story. I’ve already had conversations with TV outlets about coverage of Benedict in Israel; several of those producers were actually surprised to learn the pope is going to Africa.
In part, the lack of interest is simply because it’s Africa. In general, news about Africa doesn’t “sell” unless there’s a calamity -- genocide, mass starvation, and the like. Paradoxically, the fact that Cameroon has enjoyed decades of peace, and that Angola ended its long-running civil war seven years ago, make them less compelling from a news point of view. If the pope were going to Darfur, it would be a different story.
Finally, there’s the fact that the protagonist is Benedict himself. Four years into his papacy, most secular media outlets feel they have a read on him as a newsmaker: good for the occasional scandal, but otherwise a non-story. If there’s no hint of controversy, the sheer pull of Benedict’s personality isn’t enough to galvanize interest. By way of contrast, if this were Barack Obama’s first trip to Africa, you could pretty much guarantee saturation coverage.
That said, here are five reasons why I think the trip is actually a gripping tale to tell:
Africa is the future: The single most important Catholic story of the 20th century -- more consequential in the long run than the Lateran Pacts, Pius XII, the Second Vatican Council, and even John Paul II – was the shift in the church’s center of gravity from North to South. In 1900, just 25 percent of the Catholic population lived in the southern hemisphere. Today that figure stands at 66 percent, or two-thirds of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics, and by mid-century the southern share is projected to be 75 percent. As Auguste Comte reputedly once said, “Demography is destiny.” The tone in the Catholic church increasingly will be set by bishops, theologians, and lay activists from the south, especially from Africa. During the 20th century, the Catholic population in sub-Saharan Africa exploded from 1.9 million to 130 million, an astonishing growth rate of 6,708 percent. There’s a youthful energy about the church in Africa, as well as a sense that its historical moment has arrived. For all its travails, Catholicism remains in the realm of religion what the United States is in geopolitics, i.e., a super-power, and to a large extent the destiny of that superpower will be forged in Africa. For an object lesson in the upheaval this transition is likely to generate, look no further than the current crisis in Anglicanism over gay bishops and homosexuality.
There are terrific stories to report: While in Cameroon, Benedict XVI will meet a delegation of African Muslims, offering his first comments outside Rome about Christian-Islamic relations since his 2006 trip to Turkey. In Angola, he’ll meet with movements involved in fighting for women’s rights. The Angola portion of the trip also takes Benedict to the world’s eighth largest oil-producing nation, pumping out 1.9 million barrels per day of high-quality crude. Angola fought a bloody civil war from 1975 to 2002 precisely over control of those resources. Cameroon, meanwhile, is home to one of the longest-serving strongmen in Africa, President Paul Biya, who through intimidation and pay-offs has managed to stay in power since 1982. The 76-year-old is widely expected to prevail again in faux elections in 2011, despite the fact that he now spends considerable portions of every year abroad in semi-seclusion. (A favorite hangout is apparently the Hotel Intercontinental in Geneva.) If you can’t make something out of the “clash of civilizations,” women’s issues, oil, and corruption, you don’t belong in the news business. For additional background see my interview with veteran Cameroon journalist, Charly Ndi Chia.
Benedict and Barack can do business: The Africa trip also offers an intriguing angle on church-state relations in the Age of Obama, at a moment when the administration’s policies on the “life issues” seem to be setting the stage for protracted cultural war. When it comes to Africa, the pope and the president share a common concern for peace, development, and social justice; moreover, they each bring unique resources to making things happen. Catholicism’s massive 20th century gains across Africa have generated important political and social capital, while Obama’s biography and popularity make him virtually the uncrowned king of Africa. Together, the pope and the president might be able to move the ball in terms of cajoling the international community, as well as African leaders themselves, to get their act together.
At the level of showbiz, it’s vintage casting against type: All by itself, watching the globe’s most consummate old-world European try to play on the African stage ought to be great theater. So far, Benedict has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to stretch when the situation demands it; witness his bravura performances during his two World Youth Day outings, experiences crafted to suit the personality of his more exuberant predecessor, John Paul II. But the challenges awaiting him aren’t simply at level of stagecraft; substantively, the question is whether, despite his European baggage, Benedict will “get” Africa. Case in point: Will the pope grasp that his fight against a “dictatorship of relativism” in the West is largely moot in Africa, where the grass-roots reality is not shaped by secular indifference, but rather a highly competitive religious marketplace? In Africa, the main rivals to the faith are repackaged forms of African traditional religion, exotic new cults, mushrooming forms of Christian Pentecostalism, and aggressively proselytizing forms of Islam. Will this teaching pope be able to craft a lesson that speaks to Africa’s experience, which in many ways is so different from his own?
It’s the right thing to do: Especially in the United States, the media is not a public trust, it’s a for-profit business. Nonetheless, every now and then we ought to tell a story just because it’s important -- and if ever there were a case for doing so, Africa’s it. On the United Nations’ list of the world’s 15 most impoverished nations, nine are in Africa. Last year, some 1.5 million Africans died of HIV/AIDS, and 22 million Africans are infected with the disease. Out of 13 million deaths around the world between 1994 and 2003 due to armed conflicts, the U.N. estimates that more than 9 million occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. The economic crisis is likely to make all this worse, and it’s obscene to allow such suffering to pass in silence. Yet Africa is also more than its dysfunction; the injustice Africans experience from poverty, disease and bloodshed is often compounded by the injustice that the outside world pays attention only to their bad news, ignoring Africa’s vitality. (Aside from the peaceful regime change in South Africa, what’s the last good news report you remember from Africa?) Benedict’s trip offers a window of opportunity to tell Africa’s story, both its heartbreak and its heroism; indeed, part of the reason popes make these trips is to shine a spotlight on forgotten places and peoples.
To editors and producers everywhere, it’s not too late to get into the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Allen will be in Africa covering Pope Benedict XVI’s March 17-23 trip to Cameroon and Angola. Watch the NCR web site for his daily reports.
Reports he has already filed include:
- Accent on 'peace, fraternity' sets tone for Angola
- Benedict in Cameroon a tale of two trips
- Pope to Muslims: 'Religion rejects all violence'
- Pope demands halt to sexual, financial scandals
- Pope's condom message resonates with many
- Pope addresses corruption, conflict in Africa
- 'Africa in miniature,' warts and all, awaits Benedict
- Cameroon journalist warns of 'cheap political points' from pope’s visit
- Benedict needs to show that he 'gets' Africa
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All of Allen's reports can be found at: http://ncronline.org/users/john-l-allen-jr.
This article by John Allen
This article by John Allen exemplifies why I contend that he is one of the wisest journalists of our time. He easily combines his knowledge of the Church, theology, politics, and world issues to provide us with a truly catholic (universal) understanding of our world today. This article is a wake-up call to the media by John Allen and it should earn him the title of "Apostle to the Press." John, thanks for your insight, hard work, and inspiration. Blessings on you!
For anyone who has lived and
For anyone who has lived and worked in Africa, this article demonstrates Mr. Allen's complete ignorance and naivete...come on, he's quoting tourist guides and relying on second-hand African ex-pats.
Thats exactly what I was
Thats exactly what I was thinking. Spot on.
I am dismayed that in his
I am dismayed that in his reason #5,Mr. Allen fails to mention that many of the millions of deaths from AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa might have be avoided if Benedict XVI and his predecessor had not ignored established principles of Catholic pastoral moral theology, viz. double effect, lesser evil and the right to self-defense - which make it a moral imperative that HIV-positive husbands use condoms in order not to infect their faithful wives.
Benedict owes those hapless women who are needlessly suffering from HIV/AIDS a sincere "mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" as well as an immediate and unequivocal declaration that HIV-husbands are morally obligated to use condoms if they insist on sexual relations with their wives, else they are guilty of manslaughter (or more accurately "womanslaughter") if not murder. This should not be an opportunity for a triumphal Benedict to dispense his shallow blessings but rather a long-overdue opportunity for a penitential Pontiff to beg forgiveness from the victims of his failure and that of his predecessor to show the Compassion of Christ for these women who are victims not only of their male-dominated societies but also their male-dominated church.
Telling women that they must
Telling women that they must "submit" to unprotected sex with their HIV/AIDS husbands is very reminiscent of a situation from my childhood. I remember overhearing, more that one conversation, about an Irish wife complaining to out Irish parish priest about being beaten by her drunken Irish husband only to be told to go back and try to be a better wife so that he doesn't have to get angry.
The revisionists want to pretend that priests never said it was a mortal sin to divorce even to be safe from the beatings of a drunken husband. The same revisionists want to pretend that priests didn't teach children that eating a hamburger on Friday was a mortal sin and that their "soul would rot in hell". I wonder what the next revisionists will say about condoms.
My wife had cryogenic surgery of her cervix. The doctor said that intercourse would be O.K. as long as I used a condom because the PH of my ejaculate would harm the healing surface of her cervix. After 5 children and over 20 years of marriage (now 37) I did not need a celibate priest's permission to love and nurture my wife. I KNOW that GOD wants me to take care of my wife and ignore some blanket one-size fits all rule.
An ignorant, untrained and uneducated African Catholic doesn't have a chance. All he can do is trust what he is told and take the bad with the good.
As far as social justice is concerned, I need to see some clergial justice first. When Bernard Law returns to the U.S. and faces prosecution for "obstruction of justice" instead oh being rescued back to Rome by his buddy the pope, then I'll be willing to start to listen to whatever else they have to say. (Just because no-one has filed charges, doesn't mean he's not guilty.)
RJ
Mr. Jennings, how long was it
Mr. Jennings, how long was it going to take your wife's cervix to heal? A month? A few months?
You couldn't abstain for that length of time? Instead you are bragging that you "took care of her" by using condoms. How noble of you.
I am usually not sarcastic but I get upset when people attack the Church especially when they are silly about it.
Do you really think these African husbands forcing themselves on their wives are not using condoms while they do it because the Catholic Church forbids it? The Catholic Church would actually forbid them to force themselves on their wives, as you could tell from reading Love and Responsibility or the Theology of the Body. I think I will trust those writings of the former Pope rather than anecdotes about what someone said someone told her about what the priest said to her in 1940. Anyone who is coming to the Church to ask what is right to do in this situation is also not forcing himself on his wife. It is absolutely bizarre to blame the Church for these situations, or for women contacting HIV.
And of course you have to drag in meat on Friday and Cardinal Law. Yes, perhaps some nuns simplified the idea that scorning the church's instructions that we were all going to share a penitential act on Friday by abstaining from meat, would be separating ourselves from the community of the church and would thus tend to harden our hearts, but reasonable people great up to a more mature understanding of what that meant rather than continuing to take it at a child's level. Cardinal Law was the administrator of a huge diocese and handled some problems the way psychologists advised him to, keeping them quiet as had been the whole tenor of his training in avoiding scandal for the church. I am sure he did not really understand the pain this was causing for the victims, and I am sure he is sorry now. He was punished by being demoted as few bishops ever are. I don't see that there is any attempt to prosecute him and probably it could not be done successfully. The church did not punish him more dramatically than by shaming him by demoting him to a job with no authority and little prestige, because they know he was acting according to existing standards, and they are not going to make a scapegoat of him for what was a total institutional problem, not a particular misdeed of his. There has been a pretty systematic attempt to address the institutional problem.
But hey, if you want to go negative on the Church, there is always Cardinal Law, meat on Fridays, and condoms in Africa.
Susan Peterson
Ms Peterson You take the high
Ms Peterson
You take the high moral ground in taking Mr Jennngs to heart and you are sure you know the mind of Cardinal Law. What conclusions can we draw from this?You are certainly not burdened with personal humility?
The diseased economy is
The diseased economy is pretty much all we care about these days... at least this story will give us some news variety for a change!
We can't ignore the shift in Catholic demographics worldwide. Just recently, USNews & World Report and other media outlets have been reporting the decline in US religion membership. For those of us who subscribe to the "new mission" idea, that missionaries from the global south will one day try to re-missionize the global north, the Pope's visit to Africa may highlight what's to come.
Hang on to every word the Pope says here. I myself, totally forgot that the Pope was visiting Africa and I really appreciate John Allen's article. It's a wake up call for the media and for all of us affected by the evolving face of religion.
Even if it's via commercial
Even if it's via commercial aircraft, it'll still be worth the subscription price to read your reports John. Happy landings.
Thank you, John Allen, for
Thank you, John Allen, for inviting readers to keep an interest in Africa, a continent not always so lovable (just like any other). There are probably more than five reasons why people show little interest in the next papal trip. One of them could be that it is not easy to get excited about a traveller who displayed an incredible lack of curiosity in the Richardson case. In fact, Pope Benedict's staff (in- and extra-Vatican) had surely lots of things to tell him about that case. No doubt that the same staff prepared carefully an African trip where, to take one example, the struggle against corruption could receive new encouragement.
I'd be happier if Mr. Allen
I'd be happier if Mr. Allen didn't always condescend to the Holy Father. For instance: "substantively, the question is whether, despite his European baggage, Benedict will “get” Africa." Really, Mr. Allen, do you think Benedict "won't get" Africa? I think he gets just about everything. Whether he will endorse or approve of everything - that's another question and that's your real question here.
Or this: "Will the pope grasp that his fight against a “dictatorship of relativism” in the West is largely moot in Africa, where the grass-roots reality is not shaped by secular indifference, but rather a highly competitive religious marketplace?" Yes, I think the Pope will understand this. If you do, I guarantee he does.
And the nonsense about "Benedict and Barack can do business" - on which issues? Catchy subheads are not enough.
The is a fine article on the
The is a fine article on the politcal effect on the Pope's visit to Africa. It would interesting to get a feel for the spiritual effect the pope's presence in Africa. I suspect very powerful since a German Pope in Africa feels like "oil in water". Benedict's understanding of US spirit was disapponting.
David Cronan's comment is
David Cronan's comment is right on! Blessings on you, John Allen: you are a real treature!
Bravo! Reading John Allen's
Bravo! Reading John Allen's article on Africa re the Popes'coming visit, we are immersed in the reality Africa lives and the well researched facts on Catholicism there. It is about time we wake up to the new life of Africa and discover its richness, that stands together with its immense suffering.Thank you Allen for helping us open our eyes.
"For all its travails,
"For all its travails, Catholicism remains in the realm of religion what the United States is in geopolitics, i.e., a super-power, and to a large extent the destiny of that superpower will be forged in Africa." Sigh! To the extent that this statement is true, it suggests that Catholicism in particular, and religion in general will become increasingly irrelevant to geopolitics or, for that matter, to any of the major forces shaping an increasingly globalized culture.
There is evidence for this right in the article. E.G. the fact that members of the Anglican communion who have reservations about homo-sexuality have to go to Africa to find support. While it is true that President Obama and Pope Benedict share a concern for Africa, my reading of Obama's "Dreams of my Father" would argue that the President would precisely NOT look to Africa for positive influences on culture.
Meanwhile those western and northern forces that actually can and do influence the superpower culture are too often dismissed as insubordinate and over secularized. Africa is indeed easier but so what?
So, I too, will pay much more attention to a Papal visit to the Middle East; and even more so to a visit to India, Japan, or China.
"In Angola he'll meet with
"In Angola he'll meet with movements fighting for women's rights."
BXVI, the trampler of women's rights, is going to meet with those fighting for women's rights? Why? So he can try to intimidate them, too?
When I hear BXVI and women's rights uttered in the same sentence, my cynical side says no good can come from this! Cases in point: women's reproductive health, Fr. Bourgeoise, women's ordination, 9-year-old rape victim and her mother and doctor, HIV/AIDS epidemic and BXVI's abstinence only position, investigating (make that "visiting") women religious in the USA . . . the list can go on and on.
Drop the slogans and get
Drop the slogans and get real. "The trampler of women's rights" is the faux-Christian feminist, our Pope is their defender.
I'm looking forward to the day when women's rights get as much explicit attention from the Church as men's rights do today, which is none at all. Somehow genuinely equal treatment for women and men always enrages feminists and other womanfirsters. Meanwhile, I'll just keep in mind that feminists are for feminism, a sexist ideology in both practice and name, never for genuine equality of the sexes.
So what are we to make of the
So what are we to make of the situation in Cameroon where thousands of people have reportedly lost their investments and means of earning a living when security guards beat vendors and smashed their goods and their stalls to clear the streets for the pope's visit? I would like to hear more about these reports and whether they are accurate. Is Benedict any more aware of these reports than he was of the opinions of the Holocaust denier bishop whose excommunication he lifted? Is he going to condemn these outrageous actions if they are true? Or will he ignore them or even rationalize them as he rationalized violent actions against gay and lesbian people when he wrote in 1986 that no one should be surprised when people react violently against gay people for wanting laws criminalizing gay sexual behavior removed from the books?
Our Holy Father Pope Benedict
Our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI is the Vicar of Christ on earth at this
present time. Like Jesus who was constantly in a whirlwind of controversy
during His public life, this Pope will not escape the slings and arrows of
outrageous fortune, even from within the Church.
Journalists make a living out of stirring the embers of criticism and
sensationalising whatever the Pope is attributed to have said, whether
accurate or not. The fickle Public, Catholic and non-Catholic alike,
thrives upon any semblance of gossip or scandal which may swirl about the
papal head or his household. I suppose this is human nature in action
at its meanest level. We delight in the revelation that the emperor is
without clothes. The crowds which had welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem as their
king on Palm Sunday, later on Good Friday shouted for His crucifixion.
They got their wish, Jesus died on that Cross. But, the story doesn't end
there, does it? God had different plans for His Beloved Son. Jesus rose
from the dead, lives on at the center of controversy, in the person of His
Vicar on earth. I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And, I trust in God that this Holy Father will arise from any storm, smelling
like a rose, to the awe and surprise of both opportunistic journalists and a
fickle, incredulous public. Viva, Il Papa !
Dear John, the article is
Dear John, the article is great. You are a superb journalist, a gift to the Church, and understand Rome very well. But, I think that in this article, you are too "romanized" in reflecting the attitude of the Vatican. You write "The tone in the Catholic church increasingly will be set by bishops, theologians, and lay activists from the south, especially from Africa...and to a large extent the destiny of [the Church] will be forged in Africa. For an object lesson in the upheaval this transition is likely to generate, look no further than the current crisis in Anglicanism over gay bishops and homosexuality."
27 years ago I was at the North American College (seminary) in Rome with several Americans such as Cardinal Cooke of NYC. Roman cogniscenti were saying things like, "The Church can afford to lose a few hundred thousands liberals in America and Europe. They will easily be replaced by the millions in Latin America and Africa." Now that millions, rather than thousands, have abandoned the Church of the North while tens of millions in Latin America have turned Pentecostal, it seems Rome now looks to Africa to save Catholicism. There will be no salvation there.
Let me explain. Students of consciousness have now mapped the stages of human consciousness development through which all cultures evolve. Each level of consciousness has its own worldview, including a religious worldview. Millions in Africa have been making the step up from the magical consciousness of tribalism to the mythical consciousness of traditional Catholicism and Islam. Mythic consciousness is characterized by ethnocentrism, rigid sexual mores, obedience to authority figures, literal interpretation of Scriptures, adherence to tradition, and a "universality" provided only by strict adherence to a dogmatic belief system. That, as you noted re homosexuality, is where Africa is headed in the near future.
The next highest level of human consciousness is the rational level. Protestantism, rationalism, scientic inquiry secularism, capitalist competitiveness, civil service meritocracy, respect for the rule of law, etc. are some of its features -- most of which are glaringly lacking in Africa except among the foreign-educated elite.
Next up the ladder of human consciousness development is pluralistic multiculturalism -- with globalization and international institutions and laws -- coupled with respect for minority viewpoints, e.g., it accepts homosexuals as different but equal humans. The North is now moving very fast from the rational to the multicultural level. That is the leading edge of human culture and spiritual development and it will act as an attractor to drag along and accelerate the growth of all those below.
It is the North that has been and will lead this development, not Africa, which is one reason why 700 African priests have already traded Africa for plane tickets to the US. In Africa, the level of consciousness, quite frankly, will continue to make it the basket case of the world for a great many years to come. So much for Roman pipedreams of a mythic Catholic renaissance led by Africa.
PS: the level of consciousness of the mystics and saints, e.g., Jesus, is well beyond all those discussed above.
Mr James Thank you so much
Mr James
Thank you so much for your contribution, which I found eloquent and insightful.
The hope placed on Africa by the hierarchy is like that placed on World Youth Day as a transforamtional event in the life of the church, when in fact it is very transient, and has no long lasting impact on commitemnt to Roman Catholicism.
The RC church has become increasingly fundementalist, and will ultimately be rejected by mainstream members of all societies including the Africa of the future.
The church 'thrives' only in simple societies which lack mass education, and where the hierarchy can dominate and intimidate the people.
Great article, except you
Great article, except you forgot the most compelling reason why this story will be supressed by the mainstream media: Pope Benedict cares about black people! It's even evident on his papal coat of arms. The media, however, could care less about black people, unless they can sensationalize any and every atrocity in Africa, including the AIDS crisis (which, of course, is much more accute in China, but that doesn't really fit the Africans-as-sexual-deviants theme that the media loves).
Today is March 17th; the Pope
Today is March 17th; the Pope has arrived in Africa. The local media here (Calgary, Canada) report prominently what the Pope is supposed to have said: "Condoms don't solve the AIDS crisis".
Now, I presume that the Pope has a lot more to say than that; this isn't a trip to Africa just to state the Church's position on condoms; everybody already knows what that position is.
The Pope's advisors should have known that the media would focus on the condom issue and thereby kill the real story. I would suggest that this was very predictable. The Pope needs some real media-savvy people who are able to advise him on these matters so that the real story of this trip would make the headlines rather than turning this entire affair into a condom story that will just turn a lot of people off.
I agree with Henk. This is
I agree with Henk. This is already turning into a media disaster.
Its not surprising that the
Its not surprising that the BBC for example have barely mentioned the Pope's visit, despite its self styled claim to be a world broadcaster (or indeed, a manufacturer) of news. Predictably their limited coverage revolved around the issue of condom use.
However they were promoting a Comment Box "Is Catholicism good for Africa?" Though I suspect the comments therein and the editorial control over what was published lack the erudite and critical analysis of John L Allen. Perhaps an alternative "Is the BBC good news broadcasting?"
thanks,very interesting free
thanks,very interesting
free satellite
I would suggest that this was
I would suggest that this was very predictable. The Pope needs some real media-savvy people who are able to advise him on these matters so that the real story of this trip would make the headlines rather than turning this entire affair into a condom story that will just turn a lot of people off.
regards,
Marie - key west fishing
I'm Othodox, and i like
I'm Othodox, and i like Catholics. I hope the Pope will come to Russia and meet with our Patriarch.
Thanks
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