Benedict in Cameroon - a tale of two trips

[yinekka]

*National Catholic Reporter *John Allen wrote Benedict in Cameroon – a tale of two trips in which he notes …I don’t think I’ve ever covered a papal trip where the gap between internal and external perceptions has been as vast as over these three days.

It’s almost as if the pope has made two separate visits to Cameroon: the one reported internationally and the one Africans actually experienced.

In the U.S. and many other parts of the world, coverage has been “all condoms, all the time,” triggered by comments from Benedict aboard the papal plane to the effect that condoms aren’t the right way to fight AIDS. In Africa, meanwhile, the trip has been a hit, beginning with Benedict’s dramatic insistence that Christians must never be silent in the face of “corruption and abuses of power,” and extending through a remarkable meeting with African Muslims in which the pope said more clearly and succinctly what he wanted to say three years ago in his infamous Regensburg address, and without the gratuitous quotation from a Byzantine emperor.

Vast and pumped-up crowds flocked to see the pope, and Benedict seemed swept up in the enthusiasm….As counter-intuitive as it may seem to Westerners, it was difficult to find anyone in Cameroon – at least anyone who wasn’t a foreign journalist or missionary, or an employee of an overseas NGO – for whom the condoms issue loomed especially large. The locals had different opinions on whether condoms are the right way to tackle AIDS, of course, but it didn’t seem to dominate their impressions of the event.

Bottom line: Seen from abroad, the trip has been about condoms; on the ground, it’s felt like a celebration of African Catholicism

ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/benedict-cameroon-tale-two-trips

 

[JReducation]

*National Catholic Reporter *John Allen wrote Benedict in Cameroon – a tale of two trips in which he notes …I don’t think I’ve ever covered a papal trip where the gap between internal and external perceptions has been as vast as over these three days.

It’s almost as if the pope has made two separate visits to Cameroon: the one reported internationally and the one Africans actually experienced.

In the U.S. and many other parts of the world, coverage has been “all condoms, all the time,” triggered by comments from Benedict aboard the papal plane to the effect that condoms aren’t the right way to fight AIDS. In Africa, meanwhile, the trip has been a hit, beginning with Benedict’s dramatic insistence that Christians must never be silent in the face of “corruption and abuses of power,” and extending through a remarkable meeting with African Muslims in which the pope said more clearly and succinctly what he wanted to say three years ago in his infamous Regensburg address, and without the gratuitous quotation from a Byzantine emperor.

Vast and pumped-up crowds flocked to see the pope, and Benedict seemed swept up in the enthusiasm….As counter-intuitive as it may seem to Westerners, it was difficult to find anyone in Cameroon – at least anyone who wasn’t a foreign journalist or missionary, or an employee of an overseas NGO – for whom the condoms issue loomed especially large. The locals had different opinions on whether condoms are the right way to tackle AIDS, of course, but it didn’t seem to dominate their impressions of the event.

Bottom line: Seen from abroad, the trip has been about condoms; on the ground, it’s felt like a celebration of African Catholicism

ncronline.org/blogs/all-things-catholic/benedict-cameroon-tale-two-trips

Isn’t this always the case?

Fraternally,

JR

 

[Lujack]

To be fair to the media, today’s New York Times had a big, well-written article on the Pope’s visit that barely mentioned birth control.

 

[JReducation]

I believe the problem with the Western media when they cover these events is that they do not understand what a pastoral visit is about. If you don’t understand the concept, then you can’t see the whole picture. Then you begin to look at details out of context. You create a list of details and select the ones that will sell in your home country, that your people can relate to.

The safe-sex topic will sell in North America and Europe, because it is a topic of daily discussion. While the idea of supporting the local Church of Africa in this case, has little meaning to those who are not there. They don’t understand the issues that the Church in Africa has to deal with on a daily basis.

In addition, we in the “Developed Nations of the World” tend to be very parrochial in our worldview. Our idea of what the world should be is right and everyone else’s is wrong or backward, which is the same as wrong.

Finally, the USA, Canada and Europe could care less about Church unity around the globe, which is the true purpose of these visits. Because these nations are not concerned with world unity. This is a topic that does not sell newspapers.

I could be wrong in all the above. These are just my hypotheses.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[Eucharisted]

Isn’t this always the case?

Fraternally,

JR

Yep. Which is why I told people to ignore the media coverage. Just focus on what is really going on and spread the truth!

 

[Tigg]

In Africa, meanwhile, the trip has been a hit, beginning with Benedict’s dramatic insistence that Christians must never be silent in the face of "corruption and abuses of power,"

Cameroon, or not, American Christians should read the above quote and take it to heart. It must apply to us as well with the challenge in our current government.