African Catholics mourn the “post-colonial Pope”

The Vatican flag flies at half-mast at the Nunciature in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and Fridolin Cardinal Ambongo of Kinshasa cancels his visit to Cameroon’s war-torn Northwest region, where he was supposed to preside over the ordination of priests on April 25. The reason? The passing of Pope Francis at the age of 88 on Monday, April 21. The pontiff died after battling double pneumonia and other health complications for months.

The Vatican said late Monday that he died of a stroke and heart failure. Earlier in the year, he was hospitalized for bronchitis, which later developed into bilateral pneumonia. His condition included acute respiratory insufficiency and renal insufficiency, leading to a prolonged hospital stay.

His passing has sparked reactions across Africa, with clerical and civil authorities expressing sorrow at the passing away of the Supreme Pontiff.

“He carried our people in his heart with deep affection”

Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the South Sudanese Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio told CWR that it was “with deep sorrow” that he received the news of the Pope’s death.

“It felt like losing a spiritual father, a moral compass, and a voice for the voiceless. I was in quiet prayer when the message reached me, and I immediately offered a Mass for his soul,” he said.

“Pope Francis was not only a global spiritual leader, but a loving father to us in South Sudan,” he reflected. “He carried our people in his heart with deep affection. His unceasing prayers for peace, his frequent appeals for reconciliation, the extraordinary gesture of kissing the feet of our political leaders in 2019, and his historic visit to Juba in 2023, were signs of his immense pastoral love and commitment to our nation.”

“His life,” said Bishop Kussala, “was a radiant witness of humility, bold faith, and unwavering solidarity with the poor and the marginalized. He walked with the suffering, called the Church to the peripheries, and taught us all to journey together in communion through the path of synodality. Let us always remember Pope Francis as the Pope, who loved us, prayed with us, wept with us, and taught us never to lose hope in God’s mercy. His passing is a great loss, but his spirit remains alive in the hearts of all who seek justice, peace, and love.”

For Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of South Africa, Francis was an “incredible, prophetic pastor”.

He said Francis was “the last globally recognized moral voice in our confused times” who “gave us clear guidance in a complex and polarized political world.”

A pope who fought against colonialism

Perhaps the most endearing legacy Francis has left for Africa is his public stance against injustice and the colonial exploitation of the continent.

Fr. Stan Chu Ilo, the North American coordinator for the “Doing Theology from the Existential Peripheries” initiative, a synodal project of the Holy See initiated by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, describes Pope Francis as a “post-colonial Pope” who acknowledged that both the Catholic Church and the world were entering an “era of change.”

In a conversation with CWR, he said this shift involves embracing the call for the Church to engage with the world—not on worldly terms, but through the teachings of Jesus Christ, the gospel of nonviolence, and love.

The Pope, Ilo told CWR, critiqued systems and practices that perpetuate secular, colonial structures, such as power dynamics, resource protectionism, and global systems favoring the wealthy while exploiting the poor.

Fr. Ilo further highlighted Pope Francis’s speeches in Congo and the Central African Republic, where he condemned the exploitation of Africa’s resources and the violence fueled by neoliberal capitalism.

The Pope had described the global economy as “an economy that kills,” emphasizing its destructive impact.

In his first visit to the continent, Francis stood shoulder to shoulder with slum dwellers in Kenya, calling on governments to provide land, housing, and meaningful work to all.

He spoke boldly against “an economy of exclusion and inequality…” In his visit to the Congo, the Pope expressed disgust at the paradox between the enormous wealth of the country and the extent of excruciating poverty of its people, and blamed “economic colonialism” and “the poison of greed”.

“Hands off the Democratic Republic of the Congo! Hands off Africa!” Francis said during his visit to the DR Congo in January 2023.

“Stop choking Africa: it is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered,” he said, referring to the rich resources that have brought so much conflict and death to the country.

Johan Viljoen, Director of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute of the Southern African Bishops’ Conference, told CWR that Francis was spot-on in calling out such exploitation.

“He [Pope Francis] lashed into the first world governments and the multinational corporations that were stripping Africa and into the corrupt politicians that make it possible, and he just speaks the truth every time—a prophetic voice,” he told CWR.

Where Pope Francis clashed with the African Church

While Francis’s impact on Africa has been largely accepted as positive, there were deep tensions after the Vatican issued Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed for “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples”, without officially validating their status or altering the Church’s traditional teaching on marriage.

The document received significant pushback from the African Church.

“The Pope gave a bitter taste … by wounding and breaking the hearts of Africans in the sexual and social morality of the Church,” Mgr. Michel Nyemb told CWR.

“The wounding and breaking of the hearts of Africans has created a withdrawal and a reserve identity of Africans refusing to adhere to the acceptance of homosexual direction wanted by Pope Francis. “

Mgr. Nyemb said that Africans have struggled to accept the imposed sexual direction, leading the Catholic Church to delegate this matter to individual bishops to avoid weakening its unity. He emphasized that both Gallican Catholic Bishops and some Roman Catholic Bishops of the Universal Church regard homosexuality not merely as a sin, but as an abomination. This stance, he noted, has fostered a sense of deep disappointment within African communities.

Fr. Ilo called it “the greatest mistake of his papacy,” but gave Francis some credit for at least listening to the African perspective.

However, Johan Viljoen believes that Fiducia Supplicans was an issue that will not dent the Pope’s reputation in Africa.

“In the grand scheme of things, that was truly a minor and insignificant issue,” he told CWR.

“What truly matters is examining his actions—how he stood for the poor and championed justice,” he added.

“While the world was preoccupied with events like the Trump election, the wars in Ukraine, and Gaza, Pope Francis consistently prayed for Mozambique every Sunday, for the people in Cabo Delgado during the Angelus, for South Sudan, and for those affected by violence in Nigeria. He kept these struggles at the forefront, not as political statements, but as a reflection of the Catholic Church’s mission.”