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Pope to Angolans: Convert Witchcraft Believers
By Matt Cantor
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Posted Mar 21, 09 8:47 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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The Pope urged Catholics in Angola to reach out and convert witchcraft believers frightened by “evil powers,” the AP reports. “In today's Angola, Catholics should offer the message of Christ to the many who live in the fear of spirits,” a fear that can lead them to “condemn street children and even the most elderly because—they say—they are sorcerers.”
Benedict XVI said Catholics, who make up 65% of the population in Angola, should “live peacefully” alongside animists and other nonbelievers. The pope received an enthusiastic reception in the country, as throngs chanted and swayed to hymns, young girls prostrated themselves before him in a sea of pink veils, and many women wore cloth printed with his photograph. Earlier, he made a televised call for an end to corruption in Africa, the BBC reports. “The time of hope has arrived" for the continent, and every "decent, hopeful human behavior” counts, he said.