Africans join world to mourn Pope

In Kenya, mourners watched the service from Rome on giant TV screens

Several African states with large Catholic communities have declared Friday a national holiday or a day of national mourning for the Pope.

One of them is the Democratic Republic of Congo - where around half the population is Roman Catholic.

Special services are being held in countries including South Africa, Kenya, Senegal and Zambia.

Some churches and cathedrals set up giant TV screens with live feeds from the funeral service in Rome.

'No discrimination'

Services have also been held in North African Islamic countries with Roman Catholic minorities, such as Morocco and Algeria.

Kenya's Muslim leaders also paid tribute to the Pope.

Amadou Diop, a Senegalese Muslim who says he has been to Mecca three times for the annual pilgrimage, told the BBC that he was deeply saddened by the Pope's death.

"He was a good religious leader, who spent his life fighting for the whole of mankind, without any religious nor racial discrimination," he said.

"The pope was our father," said Rebecca Mawela at a service in Soweto, South Africa, as she shared a pew with other schoolchildren dressed in blue and yellow uniforms. "We are in mourning."

'Too junior'

In Rwanda, where the Pope's funeral coincides with the commemoration of the 11th anniversary of the genocide there, President Paul Kagame called on Rwandans - many of whom are Roman Catholic - to follow the Pope's example and his aspirations of peace, harmony and reconciliation.

Will the next Pope be African?

In Malawi, parliament has complained to President Bingu Wa Mutharika that the delegation sent to the Vatican for the funeral is too junior for the occasion and demanded more senior officials to be sent there.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is one of the African leaders to go to Rome to attend the funeral.

He is subject to a travel ban from the European Union but Italy was obliged to let him pass through on his way to the Vatican, which is a separate state.

However, life in Nigeria, home to Cardinal Francis Arinze, one of those tipped to be named as the next Pope, carried on as normal.

It is not a public holiday and the local Catholic Church has not planned any national ceremony.

---

Should the next Pope be African? Use the form to send us your thoughts.

A selection of your comments will be broadcast on the BBC's Focus on Africa programme on Saturday 9 April, starting at 1705 GMT.

Terms & Conditions

Yes, it would send a clear message to the world if the next Pope would be an African. The mere presence of a Black person as the Pope would in itself carry a message of unity and against racism, which also exists among white and Hispanic Catholics of the Americas and of Europe. .
kristian Laubjerg (born in Denmark and Danish), Libreville, Gabon

The Pope should come from anywhere around the world, so far as the person lives a life worthy of a Pope. I don't think we have African Catholics or European Catholics. We are all the same people with same goal, that is living a righteous life.
Gladys Ama Andam, Accra, Ghana

May the best man win. But I believe that a black Pope will clear the misconception by some people that black people are the children of the devil.
Jide Taiwo, Lagos, Nigeria

The issue of colour sounds blatantly irrelevant to me and I advise Catholics not to be sucked into church politics. What I would advise them to do is to elect a capable and respectable figure who will just lead and serve them the way the Pop was doing.
Ntungamili Nkomo, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

In the way that Pope John Paul made a crucial difference in Eastern Europe, the appointment of a new Pope from Africa could help effect positive change in all aspects of life in this tragically neglected part of the world.
Paula Wallace, London, England

If an African can do the job why not. This is what the bible says about it..... 1 Samuel 16:7 - But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. If a person thinks that the colour of the skin matters .... they have to rethink their faith.
Fola Fawusi, Ontario, Canada

In my inner most heart and feeling, the next Pope should be an African. This would help us remove all the dictators, remove those who misuse our money to serve their own interests, end wars, come out of colonial mindsets and keep our family values as faithful servants of God, fight Aids in our land and finally, improve our life style. Pope John II changed his homeland and many countries in Europe. I'm for an African people. The hope of Christianity, is in the third world countries and Vatican should see Africa as its future.
Bonface Mukudi, Seoul, South Korea

It would be the greatest thing that will never happen to Africa, Africans and the world at large. Racism would end if an African were the Pope.
kehinde Bereola, Lagos, Nigeria

Whether or not the next Pope is African is irrelevant, a pope should not be chosen just because of his racial orientation, this position is so much more bigger than that. If Arinze is elected as Pope, it'd be a good thing for Catholic (and Christian) minorities all over the world, but he should be worthy of the position before being elected.
Vivianne Nweke, Cardiff, UK

Kofi Anan is an African and what has he done for Africa? He could not even solve a simple border clash between Eritrea and Ethiopia. I would rather have a bigger black representation in the lower ranks of all fields of play, from which a black leader can come out to lead comfortably.
Yohannes, Eritrea

If the holy spirit says the new pope should be African, who will question that? Cardinal Arinze stands head and shoulders above his equals and should not be denied that honour if it's God's wish to crown him.
fidelis mbah, Abuja, Nigeria