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Source: Reuters
Roman Catholic bishops called on corrupt Catholic leaders in
Africa to repent or resign for giving the continent and the Church
a bad name.
Around 200 African bishops, along with dozens of other bishops and
Africa experts, also accused multinational companies in Africa of
crimes against humanity and urged Africans to beware of
surreptitious attempts by international organisations to destroy
traditional African values.
Their three-week synod, which ends formally on Sunday with a mass
by Pope Benedict, covered a range of Africa's problems, such as
AIDS, corruption, poverty, development aspirations and crime.
But it had a very direct message for corrupt African leaders who
were raised Catholics.
"Many Catholics in high office have fallen woefully short in their
performance in office. The synod calls on such people to repent, or
quit the public arena and stop causing havoc to the people and
giving the Catholic Church a bad name."
The message did not name any leaders.
The international community has for years called on Robert Mugabe
of Zimbabwe, who was raised a Catholic and educated by Jesuits, to
step down, saying he had brought his once-prosperous country to its
knees.
Another African leader who was raised a Catholic and has been
accused of corruption is Angola's President Eduardo dos Santos.
Both men deny any wrongdoing.
Rights groups and international agencies have accused Angola's
government of siphoning away billions in oil revenue and urged it
to improve transparency.
Angola rivals Nigeria as Africa's biggest oil producer but about
two-thirds of the population live on less than $US2 a day.
It ranks 158th on Transparency International's 180-nation list,
in which the country perceived as most corrupt is in last
place.
The synod bishops hit out forcefully at multinational companies,
saying they were one of Africa's greatest problems.
"Multinationals have to stop their criminal devastation of the
environment in their greedy exploitation of natural resources," the
bishops said.
"It is short-sighted policy to foment wars in order to make fast
gains from chaos, at the cost of human lives and blood. Is there
no-one out there able and willing to stop all these crimes against
humanity?"
In a section on AIDS, the bishops' message repeated the Church
position that the spread of the disease could not be stopped by the
use of condoms alone.
Last March, on his way to his first trip to Africa, the pope caused
an international storm by saying that the use of condoms could
actually worsen the spread of AIDS.
The Church teaches that pre-marital abstinence and fidelity within
heterosexual marriage are the best ways to prevent the spread of
AIDS.
The bishops said the developed world had to treat Africa with
respect and strive to remove unjust structures piled heavily
against her.
It said African nations must carefully scrutinise programmes
offered by the international community to spot surreptitious
attempts to destroy and undermine the precious African values of
family and human life.
