New pope Africa's ally - Mbeki
2005-04-20 11:23
Johannesburg - President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday that new Pope Benedict XVI could be Africa's ally to fight "racist evil" and "create a new, safer and fairer world".
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a 78-year-old German conservative, was elected on Tuesday on the second day of a secret conclave at the Vatican and took the name Benedict XVI.
Mbeki recalled that Ratzinger had been enrolled into the Hitler Youth in the 1940s which he has said in interviews was done against his will.
"The new Pope, Benedict XVI, endured being forced into the Nazi army as a teenager in the 1940s. This gave him firsthand knowledge of racist evil, a scourge that is by no means defeated in the world of 2005," said Mbeki.
"We in Africa see him as a potential ally of insight and strength in renewed warfare to create a new, safer and fairer world," he said.
"We will gladly walk the peace, dignity and development path with him. We salute him and all Catholics."
Africa has been fertile ground for the Catholic church where the number of faithful has grown from 55 million to more than 130 million under John Paul II, who died on April 2.