Pope Leo XIV is on the last leg of his pilgrimage to Africa, the destination he chose for his first apostolic visitation. Makes sense, for the continent is one of the few places left on actually replacing itself. This interactive map is intriguing, if also somewhat depressing. Hovering above each country gives its TFR – total fertility rate – which must be at least 2.1 (average number of children borne per woman) just to remain stable. Anything below that is demographic disaster, and some are well, well below. (Canada is at 1.3, while the U.S., until recently quite prolific, now stands as 1.6).
Many nations in Africa are well, well above – at 4 or 5. Its current population about 1.5 billion, with a median age of 19. In not too long, they will pass the 2 billion mark, and comprise a fifth of the Earth’s people, with many of the rest being well on into their older years. To put it mildly, Africa is growing and Europe, the West and most of the East are not. So it makes sense that that is where the Church will also flourish. What is more, a majority of those Africans are Christian – about 62% – with about 300 million Catholics and, again, growing.
It’s the Church’s task to evangelize, to strengthen those already baptized, and to offer conversion to those who are not. God’s Church is a big tent, a marriage feast with no limit or restrictions to the invitations sent out – you just have to make sure you dress properly with your ‘wedding garment’. That is, keep the commandments, as Christ tells the rich young man, and stay in a state of grace.
Speaking of which, many are clamoring for the Pope to condemn Islam. The religion is making inroads into Africa, a bit less than half the population, but catching, one may presume, largely by coercion, one may assume, as is their wont.
I know not the Pope’s mind, but one thought is that he may be in the same bind as Pius XII. Sure, Pius could have condemned Hitler more explicitly, but the backlash would have been severe. And it’s not he who would have suffered, but thousands of Christians, Jews and many others – as the Dutch bishops found out when they tried it (leading to the death of Edith Stein). What would happen to Catholics in Nigeria and Somalia were the Pope criticize Islam, as Pope Benedict indirectly did in his 2006 Regensburg address? What is needed there is the protection of the innocent, by vis et metum – force and fear – which is all some seem to understand, alas.
Also, and more to the point perhaps, Leo seems to follow the path laid out by Pope John XXIII, in his exhortation at the opening of the Second Vatican Council. As we harken back to those words more than half a century ago, we may wonder whether an ounce of honey is indeed of more worth than a pound of vinegar:
At the outset of the Second Vatican Council, it is evident, as always, that the truth of the Lord will remain forever. We see, in fact, as one age succeeds another, that the opinions of men follow one another and exclude each other. And often errors vanish as quickly as they arise, like fog before the sun. The Church has always opposed these errors. Frequently she has condemned them with the greatest severity. Nowadays however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity. She considers that she meets the needs of the present day by demonstrating the validity of her teaching rather than by condemnations. (Opening Speech for the Second Vatican Council, Oct. 11, 1962).
The Church’s – and the Pope’s – main mission is to save souls. We are still in the modus docendi, or modus evangelizandi, to emphasize the good, rather than point out the bad, I suppose those with eyes to see and ears to hear already see what is pathological and disordered in the depressing, desert religion and simply need somehow to show them an open door through which to walk into the light, so they may embrace that for which their hearts and minds already yearn.
Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, there’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I have often found it so – Benedicamus Domino!
Belloc’s lines could hardly be said of Islam. Why not emphasize the beauty, hope and joy of Catholicism which really is ‘good news’? Sure, the day may come when anathemas are back in vogue – the Pope did just warn against syncretism – and, in the meantime, we we must certainly resist evil and aggression, protect the innocent and punish the guilty. That is primarily the task of the secular arm, not the Church, whose task is to proclaim the truth, while also, when requisite, pointing out what is false and evil. We could likely do with more of that, on all sorts of issues – abortion, euthanasia, terrorism, transgenderism – that are more grave and pressing than other certain controversial and debatable questions, such as immigration. But for those with open minds and hearts, there are clear teachings on what is most necessary to get to heaven and avoid the other place.
Speaking of immigration, I was heartened that Pope Leo urged the young generation of Africa to flourish in their their own countries, which needs their talents, their skills – and, we may add, their future children:
Do not give in to distrust and discouragement…Do not forget that your people are even richer than this land, for your treasure lies in your values: faith, family, hospitality, and work.”
Here, he echoes Pope John Paul II, who went so far as to call emigration an ‘evil’ – a physical evil, not necessarily a moral one – in his 1981 encyclical Laborem Exercens:
Man has the right to leave his native land for various motives-and also the right to return-in order to seek better conditions of life in another country. This fact is certainly not without difficulties of various kinds. Above all it generally constitutes a loss for the country which is left behind. It is the departure of a person who is also a member of a great community united by history, tradition and culture; and that person must begin life in the midst of another society united by a different culture and very often by a different language. In this case, it is the loss of a subject of work, whose efforts of mind and body could contribute to the common good of his own country, but these efforts, this contribution, are instead offered to another society which in a sense has less right to them than the person’s country of origin.
The world it is a changin’, but the Church is always ancient, and ever new, adapting to the needs and exigencies of the time. Crux stat, dum volvitur orbis. Truth is the one thing that does not change, and we pray that this truth be proclaimed by Pope Leo and the Church he leads, so that many souls, including the myriads in Africa, may come to salvation and be prepared when Christ returns in glory.
