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by Mputhumi Ntabeni

G21 Africa Staff Writer

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Unconventional Wisdom

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Mputhumi
Ntabeni

Queenstown, SOUTH AFRICA -

Might not these words be a distinctive definition of Christ and of his Church? "The sign of contradiction" ... Simeon ends his prophetic utterances with a saying that is enigmatic and yet full of meaning: "so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare". -- Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla)

We are told that the death of Pope John Paul II has [awakened] the sleeping dogs of the Roman Church, and supposingly ignited the succession crisis facing the Church. We are told that the crisis is likely to expose the disintegrative forces within the Catholic Church that had barely been contained by the late, charismatic pontiff. People who hardly know anything about the Roman Church, the press -- relying on speculation, rumour and slander -- tell us all this.

I don't know if "crisis" is the right word but the Church has always been held in balance by the mixture of traditionalists and modernists [among] its faithful. [This balance] was there long before John Paul II came to be a pontiff and shall be there long after. The balance between the two has helped the Church to wade through [the] difficulties of blind modernism and [those of] stubborn conservatism.

One thing certain is that there has been shallowness of reaction to the death of Pope John Paul II. The invidious religion of celebrity-worship, first seen after [Britain's Princess] Diana's death seems to be the mark of our age. This making of dead people into celebrity saints simply by virtue of their dying smacks of mawkishness, to say the least, and is a sign of an attempt to forge elusive shared international experiences.

But there's an even more regrettable trend in the critics of our age, [that] of criticizing things they've not thought enough about.

The New Statesman of 11 April, 2005 published an article by Michela Wrong headlined 'He did more to spread AIDS in Africa than prostitution and the trucking industry combined'.

Polly Toynbee published in the Guardian (UK) of 8 April, 2005 an article titled 'Not in my name,' describing the Pope as 'a man whose edict killed millions' of people in developing countries, leaving AIDS orphans because of the Pope's 'anti-condom dogma.'

It is not enough to blame this trend on ridiculous statements made by the likes of Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, Vatican spokesman on family affairs who once declared, at the end of 2003, that condoms have tiny holes that can 'leak' the AIDS virus. The AIDS virus had already gripped parts of Africa and the above attitudes were long prevalent [among] the Western chattering class.

The above common, quick and lazy way[s] of blaming a complex social and medical problem on the last Pope and the Roman Church is a symptom of the dearth of factual material [employed] in today's journalistic practises. It is also fuelled by a condescending, prejudiced opinion about Africa. Let's ask, and try to answer, a few questions with which proper journalism should have handled this issue.

1. Is the incidence of AIDS higher in Catholic countries in Africa than in non-Catholic countries?
   
   
2. Are a majority of AIDS victims in Africa observant Catholics?
   
   
3. How are the Pope's edicts on condoms relayed on the ground in Africa, and what do Africans think of them?

I happen to live in the region of Southern Africa most devastated by AIDS. A cursory glance at the incidence of AIDS in various African countries of our region suggests that things are more complex than these Vatican-attackers allow.

The two worst-hit countries by the AIDS virus, not only in Africa, but also in the world (according to various studies by different NGOs) are Swaziland, where the rate is 38.8 per cent, and Botswana, where it is 37.3 per cent. The population of Catholics in these countries are:

• Swaziland, less than 20 per cent, while 40 per cent are Zionist (a blend of happy clap-Christianity with indigenous African traditional worship), and 10 per cent Moslem.
• Less than 5 per cent of Botswana's population is Catholic.

South Africa, in the same region, one of Africa's more secularised countries, with around 68 per cent of the population describing themselves as Christian, has a 7 per cent Catholic population and an HIV infection rate of around 20 per cent.

Surprisingly enough, Lesotho, which is the poorest of countries in the region has the lowest rate of HIV infection, less than 10 per cent. Lesotho is predominantly a Catholic country, with more than 38 per cent of its population being Catholic.

What does this tell us?

One, that in none of these countries does the Pope's statements on condoms have much hold over the majority of the population. Even most practicing Catholics disregard the Church's teaching on moral issues. The social mores of these countries are prevalently secular. Africans choose not to use condoms, not because the Pope says so, but for other social and traditional reasons, some of which I've argued here (Catholicism & The Challenge Of AIDS).

But reading most writings about Africa and AIDS by Western opinion makers one gets a general idea of condescension towards the "non-clued-up poor Africans" who are more likely to believe the lies that the rest of the Western world can see through.

The Independent (UK) columnist Johann Hari writes of lies about condoms being 'proclaimed from pulpits in rural African churches where illiterate villagers often had no other source of information.' Michela Wrong says Africans believe what the men in dresses tell them because 'the continent is still overwhelmingly patriarchal.' Polly Toynbee writes of the 'helpless third world poor who die for their misplaced faith.'

Have any of these people been to Africa? Do they understand contemporary African social behaviours? Or do they just assume that Africans are gullible, fickle, and easily led astray.

Everyone has a right to think what they like about Pope John Paul II but must we avoid difficult debate about what he stood for, which I believe to be Gospel values, in order to peddle our own ideas and prejudices? Opposition to something must entail an intellectual deconstruction of its claims and [provision of a] vital alternative to its moral force. I resent most the use of African people for the hollow attacks on the dead Pope.

---

There is an inescapable contradiction between the demands of the so-called progressive element of Western culture on the Catholic Church and the [perceptions of] masses of her faithful. The former group saw the last Pope as authoritarian and dogmatic, while to the faithful he was orthodox. There's a gaping chasm between the non-practise of the Church's moral teaching and defiance of them by her faithful. Most of the Catholic faithful recognizes the wisdom of the Church's teaching even when they fail to meet up to its ideals. Their failure is [that] of meagre spiritual funds [rather] than sociological objection.

Take the universal defiance of [the] doctrine of the Church in the use of unnatural birth control, for instance. Most Catholics agree that natural birth control (biological rhythm) is ideal, even if -- when honest with themselves -- they know, [that] at their present spiritual level, they can't live up to its ideals. The medical fraternity itself has become more aware of the benefits of natural birth control, the more the side effects of artificial birth control are becoming blatant.

Western culture, with all it wonderful gains of freedom, democracy, technology and so forth, also breeds fatalistic viruses, like indifferentism, consumerism, hedonism, materialism and practical atheism. It's daily becoming clear that it is in desperate need of a huge dose of transcendent ethics that would bring a deeper spirituality, a renewed religious sense and moral regeneration. This is what the Catholic faithful and others who adored the Pope saw him bringing in our highly consumerist world.

It is a supreme irony that the critics of the Vatican on one hand demand that it uses its moral authority for the use of condoms as the solution to the problem of HIV transmission in developing countries while on the other hand they deny the relevancy of the Church to the modern world.

If there's one thing the Church is consistent on, it is avoiding opportunistic compromises even for her own popularity. What is most regrettable about the non-thoughtful, emotional objections to the Roman Church is that they suppress serious critical analysis of her historical context, including the faults of her hierarchy. There's, for instance, widespread sexism and racism and suspicion of all things African within her hierarchy.

The Polish Pope has left many challenges his successor will not be able to ignore -- the crucial need for more priests, de-centralisation of the Roman Curia, more effective methods of collegiality, a greater role for women in governance, greater discussion about a pastoral plan for the divorced and acceptance of gay members as one of its ordinary faithful, to name but a few.

To keep its relevance, the next papacy will have to demonstrate to its faithful that these issues of racism, poverty, disease and injustice cannot be separated from faith and Christian discipleship. But that does not mean the Church need to shrink the life-giving power of the Gospel of Christ to make the Church a succursal for a culture that is increasingly instrumentalising human life?

The message the last Pope left us with is to respect the dignity of human life in all its forms and to move forward without fear of the spirit-sapping tendencies of our age. "Do not be afraid. See I'm with you all the way, yea, even unto the consummation of time." That's the message of our Lord he left us with.