Millions of African Catholics, as well as the continent\u2019s leaders, are mourning a man who they felt spoke for Africa.<\/p>\n
Home to nearly a fifth of the Church\u2019s followers, or 272 million people, Africa is becoming increasingly important in the Catholic world, and observers say Pope Francis did a lot to raise the profile of the continent within the institution.<\/p>\n
Heads of state reflected the sentiments of many describing how the late Pope spoke out for the marginalised.<\/p>\n
Nigeria\u2019s President Bola Tinubu called him a \u201ctireless champion of the poor\u201d and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted his \u201cworld view of inclusion [and] equality\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Vatican says that over the past year, seven million Africans have converted to Catholicism, making the continent one of the fastest-growing regions for the Church.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Pope has made a lot of efforts to make our faith inclusive\u2026 I remember him with joy,\u201d Ghanaian Catholic Aba Amissah Quainoo told the BBC in the capital, Accra.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was really loved by all because of his stance on the poor and the marginalised,\u201d Rev George Obeng Appah added.<\/p>\n
At the Holy Family Basilica in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Rosemary Muthui said worshippers there will remember the Pope as a man who brought change to the Church, especially in promoting equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis love for the African Church was great, and we will miss him,\u201d she told the BBC.<\/p>\n
She said she met him when he went to Kenya a decade ago on the first of his five visits to the continent which took in 10 African countries in all.<\/p>\n
His last in 2023 was to South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n
In the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, Kitsita Ndongo Rachel did not hesitate when she broke protocol to personally meet the Pope.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart was beating, I was less than 100 metres away. I slipped between the security agents; knelt down and asked the Pope for his blessing,\u201d the journalist remembers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe blessed me, and he blessed my rosary.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says her actions were influenced by the Pope\u2019s teachings which spoke to her about what can be done in her conflict-ridden country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we listen to him, we feel that he wanted or he wants justice for the Democratic Republic of Congo, he knows that millions of people have died.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nigeria and Kenya have among the highest weekly church attendance rates globally, while DR Congo, Cameroon, Uganda and Angola also have strong Catholic communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest things Pope Francis did for Africa was to bring global attention to the continent\u2019s importance in the Catholic Church,\u201d said Charles Collins, managing editor of Crux, a leading Catholic news website covering Vatican affairs and Catholicism.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has not only spoken about Africa\u2019s struggles but has physically gone to marginalised areas, showing solidarity with victims of war, displacement and injustice,\u201d said Father Stan Chu Ilo, president of the Pan-African Catholic Theological Network.<\/p>\n
During his 2015 trip to the Central African Republic, the Pope pressed home a message of peace amid conflict there.Pope Francis appealed for peace after performing the rare gesture in 2019<\/p>\n
In 2019, in a highly symbolic moment at the Vatican, the Pope knelt down and kissed the feet of South Sudan\u2019s rival leaders. His trip to the country four years later was a special peace mission that included then Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.<\/p>\n
And in a letter sent in the last week of March, Pope Francis urged President Salva Kiir and First Vice-President Riek Machar \u201cto prioritise peace, reconciliation and development for the benefits of their people \u2013 South Sudanese\u201d.<\/p>\n
But the need to make that plea speaks to the limits of the Pope\u2019s power, as there are now fears the country could be on the brink of another civil war.<\/p>\n
Despite the remarkable growth of the Church on the continent and the creation of new African cardinals, Africa remains underrepresented in high-ranking Vatican positions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Catholic Church\u2019s future is African, but it hasn\u2019t yet translated into real influence at the Vatican. That shift is still to come,\u201d Mr Collins said.<\/p>\n
Now attention starts to turn to who will succeed him and whether an African could take the helm for the first time in 1,500 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn African Pope is not a question of \u2018if\u2019 but \u2018when\u2019 \u2013 because the Catholic Church in Africa is now a theological, spiritual, and demographic powerhouse,\u201d Father Ilo said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Millions of African Catholics, as well as the continent\u2019s leaders, are mourning a man who they felt spoke for Africa. Home to nearly a fifth of the Church\u2019s followers, or 272 million people, Africa is becoming increasingly important in the Catholic world, and observers say Pope Francis did a lot to raise the profile of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}