Leo XIV: A New Pope, A New Chance for Africa to Look Inward
By Wasse Marlvine | AfricScope | May 9, 2025
White smoke now rises over the Sistine Chapel. A new Pope has been chosen—Leo XIV, an American and former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost. And while millions of Catholics across Africa may welcome this news with joy and prayer, we must also pause and ask: Why does Africa, home to ancient wisdom and spiritual depth, still follow others so blindly?
Faith Is Not the Enemy—But Forgetting Ourselves Might Be
Let’s be clear: this is not a call to throw away faith. Many Africans have found hope, strength, and healing through Christianity. The Church has given us schools, hospitals, and a moral compass that has shaped generations.
But alongside those gifts, something was taken. Our traditional beliefs—systems of thought and worship that grounded our ancestors—were branded as evil. Our gods became demons. Our elders were called ignorant. Over time, we began to see ourselves only through foreign eyes. The African worldview shrank in our own minds, replaced by a religion never designed with us in mind.
The Church didn’t grow here by accident—it was planted, watered, and protected by colonizers who understood its power. It was not just about souls, but control. When people are taught to accept suffering as holy, they stop fighting the systems that cause it. That’s how empires thrive. That’s why Africa, the most faithful continent, remains among the poorest. And it’s not coincidence.
Africa Needs More Than a Pew—It Needs Its Backbone
Even now, while we fill churches every Sunday, we ignore the wealth of wisdom in our own backyard. Our languages, rituals, and worldviews are dismissed as superstition. Yet India protects Hinduism. China holds tight to Confucian ideals. The Arab world holds Islam close. They blend modern life with cultural roots—and they develop.
Africa deserves the same. We cannot rise by only borrowing beliefs. It’s time we remembered that being African is not a sin. Our traditions aren’t backward—they are untapped power. They teach community, balance, dignity, and harmony with nature. These are not enemies of faith. They are its missing pieces in our context.
Let the Church remain. Let it evolve. But let it no longer be the only voice in the African soul.
The Gospel According to Africa
With Leo XIV now leading the Church, Africa must ask itself: Will we keep following, or will we start reclaiming? Our dignity cannot be outsourced. Our identity cannot be imported. Our development cannot be directed from Rome.
This is not rebellion—it’s restoration. A call for Africans to know that God can still speak through our tongues, walk through our forests, and dwell among our people as we are—not as we are told to become.
Let the white smoke be more than ritual. Let it remind us that belief should lift us—not chain us. That religion should empower us—not erase us. And that Africa can still believe—but on its own terms, in its own voice, from its own roots.
Because the future Africa is building will need more than prayer. It will need pride.
