Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church, visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan last week. His visit renewed focus on the growing role of African Catholics within the broader church.
Africa is home to almost 20% of the world’s Catholics: 236 million of the 1.36 billion Catholics worldwide. And the church is growing faster here than anywhere else in the world. Recent statistics show that it grew by 2.1% between 2019 and 2020, compared to just 0.3% in Europe.
A large proportion of Catholics in Africa are young: the continent’s average age is around 19. This is in contrast to the trend in many other parts of the world, where young people are leaving the church because they think it is too formal and conservative.
The Pope will especially want to encourage young Africans to take a greater role in shaping the future of church and society in their respective nations, and perhaps encourage them to support his own reform agenda, which is not particularly popular. In the continent. .
Although large and enthusiastic crowds greeted Francis in Kinshasa and Juba, many Catholics will hold views contrary to his progressive vision. Many Catholic dioceses and institutions in Africa adopt a more conservative style of Catholicism in their doctrines and rituals.
The African bishops will agree with Francis on several issues that he frequently addresses: poverty, care for the environment, social injustice, corruption and war.
However, many of these prelates will also reject and stand firm against Francis’ progressive stance on divorce and remarriage, for example.
It is no secret that many African Catholic leaders have not embraced Pope Francis’ style, vision and reform agenda. This is especially clear when it comes to issues like homosexuality, clerical privilege, the structure of the church, and the role of women in the church.
Some leaders, such as Archbishop Alek Banda of Lusaka, Zambia, recently supported the ongoing criminalization of his country’s LGBTIQ community. Many young priests ordained in African seminaries would hold to a much more conservative theology. They would be suspicious of “liberation theology” that is closely identified with the Francis papacy.
The decline in young men entering seminaries in the northern hemisphere means that many of the world’s Catholic priests will soon be of African descent. This fact alone is changing the face of global Catholicism from a northern church, with European missionaries, to a southern church made up primarily of missionaries from regions like Africa.
This will not only shape global Catholicism for years to come, but will also give African Catholics considerable influence in shaping the future of the church.
Francis has often spoken of the African church being given more of a voice in the church and in the world. He has visited the continent at an important moment in the history of global Catholicism, when he seeks to listen more closely to the marginalized.
In 2021, he embarked on an ambitious global consultation in the Catholic Church called “The Synod on Synodality.”
Francis is asking the whole church to enter into dialogue and talk about whatever needs to be addressed. He has reiterated that everything can be discussed in the process, which is expected to conclude next year.
He hopes to hold dialogues specifically with African Catholics, even though several issues that have already been brought to the table globally, such as women in ministry, mandatory celibacy for clergy, and homosexuality, have been poorly seen by African Catholics.
Unfortunately, in some parts of the continent, local leaders have done little to engage in this process. They disagree with the Pope’s approach, characterized by dialogue.
Francis is also visiting a church divided by culture, language, and ethnicity. A tragic example of this is the ongoing conflict in Cameroon between the majority Francophone government and rebels in English-speaking areas, which has claimed thousands of lives.
Catholic church leaders are divided and cannot speak with one voice, as they too are rooted in the country’s colonial history.
Francis hopes that young people can play an increasingly active role in addressing many of the conflicts and widespread poverty on the continent. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo last week, the Pope told Catholics to be a “conscience for peace” and to “break the cycle of violence.”
The church often plays an essential role in addressing social problems. For example, the Catholic bishops of the DRC and Nigeria successfully organized a protest against violence. In addition, the Rome-based Catholic organization Sant’Egidio brokered peace in Mozambique, ending the civil war in 1992.
In many countries, the church also replaces the state where dysfunctional and corrupt governments have failed to support their people.
For example, the largest number of Catholic health facilities on the continent (2,185) is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are followed by Kenya (1,092) and Nigeria (524).
Francis urged the youth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to resist greed and corruption, and criticized politicians who have embezzled millions and personally benefited from the natural resources of various countries. He encouraged the youth to choose a future different from the past.
In Kinshasa, this appeal was immediately picked up by the crowd, which began calling for the end of the rule of President Felix Tshisekedi, a president whose disputed electoral victory was not recognized by the church.
This is the Pope’s fifth visit to Africa in 10 years, underscoring how important he sees the continent as.
Given the exponential growth of African Catholicism, it is not an exaggeration to ask, could the next Pope be African?
This article first appeared on The continentthe pan-African weekly produced in collaboration with the mail and guardian. It is designed to be read and shared on WhatsApp. Download your free copy here.
