Africa awaits the pope

Africa awaits the pope

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From the dusty southern reaches of the Sahara to the lush uplands of central Angola, the Roman Catholic church is on the move in Africa, a continent that may be home to as many as half a billion Catholics by the middle of the century.

Since 1980, the number of Catholics in Africa has risen more than three-fold - to nearly 200 million by 2012 - according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA), a unit affiliated with Washington's Georgetown University.

. Luanda, Angola. Reuters/Herculano Corarado
The Portuguese built the Church of Our Lady of Conception during their colonial rule of Angola.

Its success is not purely a function of Africa's high birth rates and gradually increasing life expectancy.

CARA estimates that over that same period, the proportion of Catholics in Africa's population rose to 18.6 percent from 12.5 percent.

. Bamako, MALI. Reuters/Joe Penney
A woman prays in the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bamako. Catholics worshipped in the main cathedral until a year ago, when security threats forced them to pray in the annex.

It is with such numbers in mind that Pope Francis makes his first papal visit to the continent this month, stopping off in Kenya, Uganda and Central African Republic, a deeply impoverished country where dozens of people have been killed in clashes this year between Christians and Muslims.

. Bambari, Central African Republic. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

However, numbers alone do not tell the whole story.

In cities, towns and villages across sub-Saharan Africa, where worshippers gather in venues as diverse as an ornate cathedral in Nairobi to a roadside cross on the outskirts of Kampala, the Catholic church is facing serious competition.

. Nairobi, KENYA. Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
A priest and altar boys arrive to celebrate Catholic mass on Sunday inside the Holy Family Minor Basilica parish, the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Nairobi.

Besides Islam - now the religion of almost one in three Africans - it is coming up against a host of Pentecostalist and evangelical churches fitting into Africans' love of music, dance and free-form self-expression.

. Bangui, Central African Republic. Reuters/Siegfried Modola

In many instances, the relatively staid and rigid nature of established Christian churches, both Roman Catholic and Anglican, are of limited appeal to Africa's overwhelmingly young church-going population, experts say.

. Bangui, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC. Reuters/Siegfried Modola
Archbishop of Bangui, Dieudonne Nzapalainga, stands next to followers after conducting Sunday mass in a temporary church at a camp for internally displaced people near Bangui airport.

"These (evangelical) churches are quite good at tapping into traditional African sensitivities of giving expression to whatever you feel in a very bubbly manner," said Christo Lombaard, a professor of Christian spirituality at the University of South Africa in Pretoria.

"They're not like these very staid churches that I grew up with."

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Mogadishu Cathedral was attacked during the 1989 civil war that saw its last Bishop, Salvatore Colombo, killed by armed insurgents while giving mass there.
. Mogadishu, SOMALIA. Reuters/Feisal Omar

Mogadishu Cathedral was attacked during the 1989 civil war that saw its last Bishop, Salvatore Colombo, killed by armed insurgents while giving mass there.

Rosary beads left by worshippers lie on the ground at the highest point of the Sanctuary of Muxima, Angola.
. Luanda, ANGOLA. Reuters/Herculano Corarado

Rosary beads left by worshippers lie on the ground at the highest point of the Sanctuary of Muxima, Angola.

Angola's historic Church of Our Lady of Conception stands on the banks of the Kwanza River in Angola.
. Luanda, ANGOLA. Reuters/Herculano Corarado

Angola's historic Church of Our Lady of Conception stands on the banks of the Kwanza River in Angola.

A man prays after mass at the Martyrs of Uganda church in Bamako, Mali.
. Bamako, MALI. Reuters/Joe Penney

A man prays after mass at the Martyrs of Uganda church in Bamako, Mali.

Father Michael Owusu-Ofori gives communion to members of the congregation during Thursday evening mass at St. Kizito Catholic Parish in Accra, Ghana.
. Accra, GHANA. Reuters/Francis Kokoroko

Father Michael Owusu-Ofori gives communion to members of the congregation during Thursday evening mass at St. Kizito Catholic Parish in Accra, Ghana.

A woman stands in front of posters of Pope Francis at the Martyrs of Uganda church in Bamako. The poster on the right reads, "Our Pope Francis".
. Bamako, MALI. Reuters/Joe Penney

A woman stands in front of posters of Pope Francis at the Martyrs of Uganda church in Bamako. The poster on the right reads, "Our Pope Francis".