German bishops’ site accused of ‘lazy slander’ against Church in Africa

The editor of the German bishops’ website has said that the Catholic Church continues to grow in Africa because of a lack of education and because Africans have nothing else in their life, according to First Things.

Björn Odendahl, writing at Katholisch.de in an article entitled “The Romantic, Poor Church”, said: “So also in Africa. Of course the Church is growing there. It grows because the people are socially dependent and often have nothing else but their faith.

“It grows because the educational situation there is on average at a rather low level and the people accept simple answers to difficult questions [of faith]. Answers like those that Cardinal Sarah of Guinea provides.

“And even the growing number of priests is a result not only of missionary power but also a result of the fact that the priesthood is one of the few possibilities for social security on the dark continent,” Mr Odendahl wrote.

Leroy Huizenga, writing at First Things, said: “It beggars belief that such a statement would appear on the conference’s official website, with its lazy slander of African Christians and priests as poor and uneducated.”