Pope Asks World to Help Africa Meet Its Challenges

Pope John Paul II on Sunday urged the international community not to forget the needs of Africa, citing its perennial problems of hunger and poverty and new ones like AIDS.

But he said African leaders must also do their part to help their own people.

Gambia, the second stop on John Paul’s West African tour, is one of the smallest countries in Africa, about twice the size of the state of Delaware. The Vatican counts only 17,000 Roman Catholics in the predominantly Muslim population of 860,000.

Yet it seemed that most of them turned out for a papal Mass in a 20,000-seat soccer stadium. They waved white handkerchiefs when he was driven around the infield, as soldiers holding automatic pistols aloft ran beside.

The Pope said Africa has difficulty meeting the old challenges of ethnic rivalry and underdevelopment, and the new ones posed by “the tragic spread of AIDS and the deadly onslaught of the drug culture.”

In his remarks in the sun-baked capital city of Banjul, John Paul said he feels the need to remind the international community not to let itself “be distracted to the point of neglecting its duties to this continent.”

He urged developed nations to give not only assistance but also know-how, technology and skills to Africans to allow them to eventually go it alone.

For some time, John Paul has expressed concern that the Western nations would funnel aid to Eastern Europe and the republics of the former Soviet Union at the expense of Africa.

Turning to African leaders, he said: “I beg the leaders of Africa to encourage education at every level, so that their peoples may gain the knowledge and technical competence needed to ensure genuine progress.”

One of the aims of the weeklong pilgrimage to Senegal, Gambia and Guinea is to strengthen the role of the small Catholic community in each country.

Joseph Mendey, a finance clerk in Banjul, said he didn’t feel discriminated against as a Catholic in Gambia but that the papal visit was particularly important to him.

“I’ve never been to Rome, and who knows if I’ll ever go. I’m glad the Pope came to us,” he said.

With his latest trip, the 54th of his papacy, John Paul has now visited 100 countries worldwide. He is scheduled to fly to Guinea this morning.