If he wants to penetrate the hearts of Africans, let him address their real
problems and stop preaching the rosary and confession and Sunday Masses.
These are all important to help us live godly lives, not in any way going to
help the hungry man who is also an angry man. Almost over the years, all the
Popes had preached in this line yet no impact in African way of life,
especially with respect to political corruption and greed.

Last Tuesday, I was listening to one European television which said that
Africans are growing in faith, which is true, but only because as Karl Marx
once said, religion is the opium of the poor.

When you find value in your life, there is need to protect it. Condom
prevents procreation, which is the primary motive for child bearing. But
when you’re poor you produce children like soda factory. So if they want the
stop of HIV/AIDS, equip them with bread and butter, or else life for these
folks becomes meaningless and unexciting. Please, Your Holiness and the
Catholic Church, stop this Ideological ranting and get down to the business
of the people which is hunger and corruption. Africa needs to move forward,
someone has to tell African politicians that, the church I remembered is god
at tell the truth?

It would be a fallacy if a distinction is not made between Africa problems
and Ideological issues of the West because they do not have identical
situations. The West is trying to solve the problems of child abuse and
environmental issues; Asian nations are now focusing on how to come to terms
with human rights and Africans too are fixing their attention on poverty.
The point being made is that African families need to feed their children.
How do you expect a family with five graduates, none of whom is working, to
be thinking of anything else but how to feed their bellies. A graduate
without work for years is beaten down so much that it would be impossible
for him to be thinking about condoms, after all they cost, money. This does
not make any sense at all. So he should get down to issues. I implore the
Pope to forget all these dogma that has been handed down over that years,
because we need jobs, food, debt free and other things will be added unto
Africa.

I have asked myself this question over and over again, about the provisions
that should be made for Africa. In my view, discipline and responsibility in
government should be the focus of the Pope?s visit to Africa. Almost every
one goes to church; the more criminally minded and born-again cronyisms they
are, the problems of living persist and remain unsolved. In the end
hypocrisy becomes the faithful tool of the victims of the African situation
because spirituality is not going to do much for a hungry man or help the
baddies repent. To lead us out of this crisis I see a bucket full of
responsibility, rose garden of ethics and white robe with a cross on it of
spirituality .These are the moral rearmaments that could make a difference.
and make us whole. Enough with begging money, let us start working on our
self dignity and pride by taking up our own cross and follow the party of
integrity, honest and political sanity.

I absolutely agree with the Pope that condom is not the answer to Africa’s
HIV/ AIDS problem. Nor is HIV an African problem. We have been poor and
depressed before HIV came to us. Our poverty is not a divine problem;
rather, in my view, it is the lack of responsibility and good governance
together with deficiency of thick layers of political morals that had
brought the house down..

Here are some suggested messages to Africa, especially countries like Sudan
, Nigeria  and others with large Muslim followers that fight each other? His
message should be that there is only one God called by different names by
different people. There is a great need to identify the major sources of
tension and confusion about religious leadership. But also if we analysis
this critically we find out that African Catholic Church is the worst of the
worst when it comes to morals. Take for an example, the bishops. What have
they done to make sure the poor are protected from government greed and
corruption? Absolutely nothing!

Moral faith is the highest teacher of matters of morality and faith. People
want to hear the Pope on this matter and he must therefore continue because
anything concerning that must be consistent. What he has taken on is a very
diverse and controversial issue. Although some are saying that he can
address governances by being part of international committees that hinges on
this issue. The bishops have zero credibility as far as I am concerned
because they have foregone carrying out their prophetic roles by condemning
the governments, especially in Nigeria they operate as kings among sinners.
Imagine what will happen if all the African bishops come out and condemn the
government. The politicians will definitely listen to them.

 The bishops have failed their followers; they have no business sitting on
ivory towers to address the people. African bishops should take care of
their folks. I am also upset with them for not telling the pope what issues
to address in Africa. They are afraid to tell the truth because their
earthly lives are more important to them than their faith and spiritual
lives. After all, if they can?t take up armor of faith and shield of
salvation, what?s the difference between them and the AIG Executives?
What I am saying is that they must give a very loud voice to the issue of
Africa. The Catholic Church is keeping quite on the issue of gay marriage in
some parts of Africa while South Africa has legalized it . While the
Pentecostal churches are speaking out against it the Catholic Church and
their bishops are keeping mute, after all they can come out later and say
they are sorry like the apologies to the Jews on Holocaust and Africans on
slavery.. They are all in their kingly robes, but their roles as leaders of
the poor and leaders of the church are not being carried out. Welcome Pope
Benedict but we need a more pragmatic church involvement in helping the poor
at least to feel human.

—
               Yona Fares Maro
I.T. Specialist and Digital Security Consultant

– – –
Date:          Sun, 22 Mar 2009 22:56:20 +0800 [03/22/2009 09:56:20 AM CDT]
From:          Yona Fares Maro
Subject:          Pope Visit In Africa