Hard questions about Pope Benedict in Africa

Benedict XVI said he came to Benin, a country of eight million in West Africa, to deliver a message of hope. Throughout the Nov. 18-20 trip, he repeatedly invoked the image of Africa as a “spiritual lung” for humanity, praising its deeply religious worldview and stressing that the joy, resilience and traditional moral values of Africa are precious gifts to the world.
It may seem counterintuitive that an 84-year-old German intellectual should be the Western leader most enthusiastic about Africa, yet it actually makes all the sense in the world. Spiritually speaking, Africa is a superpower — both the world’s largest manufacturer and consumer of religion. For a pope who has spent a lifetime lamenting the “death of God” in Europe, Africa can’t help but seem an oasis of vibrant faith.
Africans seemed to return the sentiment.
Vast crowds, including large numbers of children and young people, thronged the streets of Cotonou, Benin’s capital, and Ouidah, on the Atlantic coast, to see the pope. For Benedict’s open-air Mass in a Cotonou soccer stadium Sunday, there were at least as many people outside as the 40,000 who made their way inside, spending several hours dancing and singing before the main event. Observers compared the turnout (which also drew people from neighboring countries such as Togo, Ghana, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Niger) to papal outings to Poland and Mexico.

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