THE TRUTH ABOUT THE POPE

Behind the gushing praise, the nauseating sycophancy and the hypocritical hype, there’s another story about the Holy Father…

“When I think of the Vatican's record in Africa, I think of its failure to acknowledge what happened in Rwanda, where priests and nuns not only led the death squads to Tutsi refugees cowering in their churches, but provided the petrol to burn them alive, took part in the shootings and raped survivors. Rwanda was Africa's most devout Catholic nation, and the role the Church played in condoning and fostering the Hutu extremism that climaxed in genocide is as shameful as its collaboration with the Nazis.

I think of the stories African newspapers regularly publish about newborn babies being dumped in latrines, of embryos from back-street abortions floating down slum sewers. On a continent where the concept of consensual sex still has some way to go, the Vatican's no-abortion, no-contraception line has been brutal for African women. If the Pope has been eulogised across much of Africa during the past week, it is because the continent is still overwhelmingly patriarchal. Politicians are overwhelmingly male; newspaper editors are male; leader writers and news editors are male; and most of the "I met the great man" pieces are by male writers.

I also think of the sheer irresponsibility of rejecting population control, on a continent stalked by famine and stunted by malnutrition, where each year brings another ten million mouths to feed. The population of Kenya, now 32 million, doubled during John Paul II's pontificate. Though the average number of children in a family has fallen from seven to four, that is no thanks to John Paul. As one Kenyan paper reported after his death, a couple who enjoyed a private mass in the Vatican on their jubilee wedding anniversary were asked if they had children. Eleven, they said. The Pope, they reported, "was pleased and blessed us". Yet Kenya today is unable to feed itself. President Kibaki was forced last year to declare a state of famine.

Yet all this pales into insignificance when set against the one area in which the Pope could really have transformed Africans' lives. When it comes to "Ay-Eye-Dee-Ess", as he clumsily pronounced the unfamiliar acronym at a Nairobi conference, the Pope probably contributed more to the continental spread of the disease than the trucking industry and prostitution combined.”

Full story here...