A New Voice on Africa

Living in my little Protestant bubble, I had no idea Pope Benedict was interested in the development issues of Africa. Evidently he has a new book coming out April 16th that includes the following quote on the application of the parable of the Good Samaritan to the issues of Africa:

"If we apply [the story] to the dimensions of globalised society we see how the peoples of Africa, who have been plundered and sacked, see us from close-up," he wrote. "Our style of life [and] the history in which we are involved has stripped them and continues to strip them."

The Pope wrote that the damage was not just material. "We have wounded them spiritually too," he said. "Instead of giving them God - and thereby welcoming in from their traditions all that is precious and great - we have brought them the cynicism of a world without God in which only power and profit count."

In the book he also discusses human trafficking, sex tourism and consumerism. Good to see these issues being discussed openly.