Growing African Church Has Different Problems from Dying "Synodality Church"
His pastoral urgencies are "often different" from those discussed at the Ex-Synod.
He insists that the Church is Eurocentric [?; rather: decadent] on many occasions, such as this Synod.
"Sometimes people want to present the problems of the Church in the West as if they were the great problems of the universal Church".
Lasarte Topolansky disagrees: "Calm down, you have these problems and it is OK to face them, we give you courage. But we have so many other critical problems, such as evangelisation, or the formation of the laity, or inter-religious dialogue, or the enormous growth of sects of all kinds".
He admits that in Europe - he seems to be referring to bishops and priests in Europe - "secularisation is advancing, but in Africa there are hundreds of seminarians who need to be supported in their formation".
A problem in Angola is the rise of Islam: "Christian girls marry Muslim boys, their children are sent to study in countries with an Islamic majority, and when they return they have become Muslims linked to extremist groups." [But since for Francis every religion is "a way to God", this should not be a problem.]
The neo-Pentecostal sects are "completely disconnected groups that do not even enter into dialogue with the Protestant churches", the bishop explains: "And the problem of witchcraft remains".
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