Well naturally the political leaders will listen to all these Catholic Bishops! Yea, right!

On this they are surely right.

Can anyone imagine a group with less moral authority than Catholic Bishops?

No one has a right to judge the political leaders of Africa. Their ancestors were mistreated by white men. Therefore, their immoral actions are…understandable. Or so I’ve been told.

What the Catholic Church needs is an African Pope. Benedict is old enough, maybe the opportunity will come soon. Although popes are a lot like Charleston Heston clinging to his guns, clinging to their papal offices until they’re senile. Catholic leaders suspect there will be a Catholic bishop nominated for Pope, and they’re planning to discredit him, now.

“Catholic leaders suspect there will be a Catholic bishop nominated for Pope, and they’re planning to discredit him, now.”
Interesting statement, YN. Do you have evidence of this?

There’s an article about this in the NYT*.

“Many Catholics in high office have fallen woefully short in their performance in office,” the bishops wrote in an unusually direct document wrapping up a month-long synod, or meeting, at the Vatican on the issues facing the church in Africa. “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.”

…

In their document on Friday, the bishops singled out crises in northern Uganda, South Sudan and Darfur and said that “those who control the affairs of those nations must take full responsibility for their woeful performance.”

They added: “Whatever may be the responsibility of foreign interests, there is always the shameful and tragic collusion of the local leaders: politicians who betray and sell out their nations, dirty businesspeople who collude with rapacious multinationals, African arms dealers and traffickers who thrive on small arms that cause great havoc on human lives.

So it sounds, cknuck, as if those bishops are telling the Africans to take responsibility for the ways they govern themselves and don’t resort to blaming others. That sounds like a very conservative message, don’t you think? How does it feel having it applied to “yours”?

nnmns quote, “”How does it feel having it applied to “yours”?
What on earth? Do you mean Africans are mine what kind of racist crap are you spouting now nnmns? I am a African American as much as I am mixed with Latino, Italian, and Irish Americans and I am not responsible for any African politicians I don’t even like American politicians. You go too far with your racism nnmns.

Do not accuse me of racism unless you include yourself too.
You are the one saying we can’t judge the political leaders of Africa. To quote you: “Most people on these boards have absolutely no understanding of what is like to be a African so they really can’t judge.” I can only assume you feel you do have an understanding of what [it] is like to “be a African” or you’d have admitted you, also, don’t have such an understanding.
It would seem, cknuck, you are trying once again to have your cake and eat it too. Tell us once and for all, do you identify as an African, or not? Do you know any more about what that life is like than, say, I do? Have you been there, and if so for how long and what did you do there?
And do not accuse me of spouting “racist crap”. You need to clean up your mouth and your mind.

nnmns i know about the situations in Africa from serving them in providing food and water i am every bit as America as you my bitter friend but I’ve seen what is happening actually talked to people from there so that is where I gain my perspective. You know I am not African so your zeal goes before your mouth at times and allow you to make your racist commentaries. I don’t hold it against you it’ just where you are at with your frustration with me.

“You know I am not African ” In a sense we are all African. But that’s not what you mean of course. You’ve made a big deal of being African American and you talked as though you had special insight so I make no apology for talking of Africans as “your” people. Some days you are unusually touchy, even for you.

nnmns it is not that some days I am unusually touchy as much as some days you are unusually inaccurate.

I also have heard earlier this month, that the bishops issued a new statement affirming that Jewish-Catholic dialogue “has never been and will never be used by the Catholic Church as a means of proselytism.”