Pope Lands in Benin, Warns Clerics About Political Acts

Pope John Paul II cautioned church officials Wednesday about political activity as he began an African tour that will end in Sudan, where the Muslim government has been battling Christians for 10 years.

The trip is the pontiff’s 10th to a continent where clerics in many parts are fighting for political reform and the Roman Catholic Church has found its most fertile ground for converts. Still, the Pope made it clear that for the Vatican, spreading the gospel is the heart of the church’s mission.

“It is right that church people, bishops and others, free themselves from political tasks because the only political task of the church . . . is evangelization,” the Pope told reporters aboard his special flight from Rome to Benin.

The archbishop in Benin’s capital, Isidore de Souza, was president of the national conference that played midwife to the transition to democracy.

When John Paul first visited Benin in 1982, it was a strict Marxist-Leninist state. But popular protest compelled its dictator, Mathieu Kerekou, to call elections, which produced his defeat in March, 1991.

Meeting with bishops, the Pope praised De Souza for his service during an “important moment” for the nation. But he said it is time for him to return to his proper mission, the care of souls.

Elsewhere in Africa, church officials have taken an active role in political reform in Zaire, Togo, Congo and Gabon.