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Much At Stake As Pope Visits Africa

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The New York Times

Published: March 17, 2009

VATICAN CITY - When Pope Benedict XVI embarks on his first trip to Africa as pontiff today, traveling to Cameroon and Angola, he will be visiting the future of the church, if not its present.

With one of the world's largest Catholic populations, estimated at more than 158 million, Africa is the continent where the church is at the same time strongest - in terms of sheer numbers and devotional vitality - and weakest, inevitably touched by the poverty, corruption, conflict and disease afflicting the larger society.

Benedict is expected to touch on both those realities in his visit, which kicks off a year of attention to Africa, culminating in October, when the world's bishops meet for their annual monthlong synod in Rome. This year it is devoted to "The Church in Africa at the Service of Reconciliation, Justice and Peace."

In the first stop of his six-day trip, in Cameroon, Benedict is expected to present the working paper for the synod, which was called by Pope John Paul II before he died in 2005.

The document is expected to touch on the church's role in promoting democracy and social justice; "enculturation," or finding a balance between Rome-mandated Catholic dogma and local practices; health; and the tensions in Africa between Catholics, Muslims and the continent's fast-growing Pentecostal population.

There is a lot at stake. By 2025, one-sixth of the world's Catholics are expected to be African.

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