Pope meets Muslims in war-torn African city

It is his first official trip to Africa since he became Pope nearly three years ago.

Tidiani Moussa Naibi, the imam of the mosque, assured the Pope that Central African Christians and Muslims know they are brothers and sisters. Both were spontaneous initiatives of the pope November 30, his last day in Africa.

He breached peace and reconciliation in the Central African Republican, where religious conflict has torn the country apart. Nary said numerous militants who have threatened Muslims in his community are not faces he had ever seen at Mass before.

On the issue of religious fundamentalism, Francis acknowledged that it’s found in all traditions, including Catholicism. “We don’t even have access to our cemeteries”, he said. “I say this because it is my church”. “Religious fundamentalism isn’t religion, it’s idolatry”. Benedict also made other remarks implying that Africa was threatened by factors like condoms and abortion.

During his flight back to Rome, Francis again touched upon the ongoing United Nations climate conference in Paris, warning of great ills to the world unless leaders agree on steps to reduce harmful effects on the environment.

Little was accomplished at the 1997 Kyoto conference, Francis said, and since then “every year the problems are more serious”.

Regarding the pending “Vatileaks” trial, the pope said it’s up to the judges to reveal the truth of what happened.

Despite security concerns raised about the pope’s visit to the highly volatile country, Francis was able to visit the Muslim enclave of PK5 and say Mass at the cathedral and sports stadium without incident.

Questions like condoms and AIDS can be addressed when the other issues he mentioned are resolved, according to the pontiff.

“I don’t like getting into questions or reflections that are so technical when people die because they don’t have water or food or housing”, he said. He spoke of the people dying from starvation and the lack of clean water, adding that once the world makes more strides to conquer these problems, it would then be “legitimate to ask whether it is licit” to use condoms as a preventative measure against HIV and AIDS.

Pope Francis said that at various moments of his trip, he visited the very poor, people who lack everything and have suffered tremendously.

I think the Pope is right about condoms and Aids; but, considering the interview as a whole (full transcript here), I’m dismayed by his simplistic (and now familiar) analysis of poverty in the developing world, supported by statistics that Francis “read somewhere”.

Francis, moved by the news, asked whether he could visit the site of the incident, but his security advisers told him not to.

“There are also those who have been scarred in soul or body by hatred and violence, those whom war has deprived of everything: work, home and loved ones”, the pope said.

However, he said, he had hoped the trial would be over before the opening December 8 of the Year of Mercy, but he does not think that will be possible because the defendants’ lawyers need adequate time to defend their clients properly.

“Let’s not talk about if one can use this type of patch or that for a small wound, the serious wound is social injustice, environmental injustice”, Pope Francis continued.

He said he will go to Mexico City to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe; to the southern state of Chiapas on the Guatemalan border; and to Morelia, a city in the center of the country that has experienced much drug violence.