Africa is the Pope's new beacon of hope

Pope Benedict XVI is setting off on his first pilgrimage to Africa today. "With more than 158 million faithful the continent has become a new beacon of hope for the Vatican," the liberal daily Sme writes. "If Africa was once a hard nut to crack for the European missionaries of old, thanks above all to Pope John Paul II, who travelled there on 16 occasions, it has become a modern bastion of Christianity. For Benedict XVI Africa represents a major challenge as the Church has several long term problems to deal with there. One of them is the spread of Aids and the Church's strict stance on the use of condoms. Many members of the clergy are calling for an exception to be made for married couples in which one of the partners is infected with HIV. But even if the Pope sees Aids as one of the greatest dangers for the continent he will not change his position on condoms. … For the African clergy observing the vow of celibacy is also a problem. In tribal cultures men are not considered to be men until they have fathered a child."

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