Pope laments effects of materialism and fundamentalism in Africa

POPE Benedict XVI opened a special meeting of clerics to discuss Africa yesterday by praising the continent as a font of spirituality but lamenting that it is afflicted by materialism and religious fundamentalism.

A Congolese choir, with bongo drums, electric guitars and swaying, ululating singers, filled St Peter’s Basilica with African hymns as Benedict opened the synod, a three-week gathering of 300 prelates to discuss the church’s problems in Africa.