Juan Lara
Vatican City, 16 nov (EFE).-the Pope will travel from 18 to 20 November for the second time to Africa, in a visit that will take you to Benin and which is considered the “second part” of his first voyage, which was marked by the controversy over his statements against the use of condoms to combat AIDS.
The objective of this second journey is to deliver the African prelates the final document of the second Synod of bishops African held in 2009 in the Vatican.
In March 2009, Pope Benedict XVI for the first time set foot in Africa, where he visited Cameroon and Angola, on a trip that delivered to the Episcopal Conferences the “Instrumentum laboris” or working paper for the preparation of the II Synod for Africa.
Since its inception, the trip was wrapped by the controversy, when Pope Benedict XVI said in the plane him from Rome to Yaoundé AIDS “not fighting only with money, or the distribution of condoms, which, on the contrary, increase the problem”.
AIDS, according to Pope Ratzinger, overcome with “a humanization of sexuality and new forms of behaviour”.
His words, in a continent where 27 million people are infected with the AIDS virus were harshly answered from various Western countries that stressed that the condom is a key element to prevent the transmission of the disease.
The controversy over AIDS left in the background his harsh allegations on the situation of Africa, which – he said – is “in danger” because people “immoral without scruples who are trying to impose the Kingdom of money scorning the more destitute”.
The preparatory document of the Synod, which handed over to the prelates in Yaoundé, was in that line and the text is reported to multinationals by “invade” gradually the African continent to appropriating natural resources with the complicity of local leaders, of hindering the democratization of their countries, he added.
In Luanda said that now is the time of hope for Africa, but it is necessary to put an end to corruption and the rich countries to respect the promise of 0.7 per cent of their GDP for aid to development.
“You can transform the continent, freeing your people from the scourge of greed, violence and disorder, leading him down the path of a modern civil democracy”, the Pope told the Angolan President, José Eduardo Dos Santos.
El II Synod for Africa was held in the Vatican in October 2009 with the assistance of 244 bishops, who made public at the end a message which reiterated that AIDS is fought with chastity and fidelity, and not condoms.
“Africa, get up and walk, no time to lose, it’s time for change”, stated the prelates, and stressed that the black continent “is not powerless”, your destination is in the hands of its people and that “looking to Christ we will reach the successful conclusion of reconciliation, justice and peace”.
The prelates denounced religious fanaticism that is spreading throughout the world and called for dialogue and respect for each other with the other religions.
Also, they called upon the multinational “stop” “criminal devastation of the environment” for their own benefit and assured that it is a “short-sighted policy” to foster wars “for quick profit of chaos, the price of blood and lives”.
The prelates 57 proposals made to the Pope to prepare with them the outcome, which will deliver them now in Benin.
In these proposals, the prelates made an appeal to put an end to wars and claimed that African AIDS patients receive treatments of the same quality as in Europe.
At the same time, the prelates argued for AIDS-infected couples “to help the fair, with full responsibility for the mutual well-being, the Union and the family action”.
In that sentence, Vatican observers saw a “small opening” of the African Church the use of condoms in marriages where one of its members is infected and rejected not sexual intercourse.
Benedict XVI closes the Synod with a solemn mass in which he made an “urgent” appeal to reconciliation in Africa and demanded a change of the “global development” model, so that it can “include all peoples and not only to the prepared”. EFE
