Angola: Benedict XVI Denounces Child Murders Practiced by Witchcraft
Animist cult in West Africa.
Before the bishops of Angola in his visit ad limina, on October 29, 2011, Benedict XVI pointed out that one of the principal obstacles to evangelization comes from the fact that the “hearts of the baptized are still divided between Christianity and the traditional African religions” (i.e. Animism).
“The abominable effect is the marginalization and even the murder of children and elder persons, who are condemned by the false imperatives of witchcraft,” decried the Pope. “Since it is a regional problem, a common effort from the ecclesial communities stricken by this calamity is expedient,” he continued, “in order to define the profound significance of such practices, to identify the pastoral and social risks that they convey, and to come up with a method that will enable them to be definitively eradicated, with the collaboration of the governments and civil society.”
During his trip to Angola in March 2009, the Pope had already pointed out the obstacle that the practice of witchcraft poses to evangelization. The Lineamenta for the Synod of Africa in October 2009, had also mentioned the “drama of child witches”. The presence at Assisi, on October 27, of a representative of the African beliefs, Wande Abimbola, was seen as a recognition of the Animist cults that contradict evangelization in Africa.
(sources: apic/imdeia – DICI#244 Nov 11, 2011)
