Pontiff: Convert others

LUANDA, Angola — Tens of thousands of Angola’s Catholics lined the streets of the capital on Saturday for a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged the country’s faithful to reach out and convert people who believe in witchcraft.

“In today’s Angola,” he said at Mass in the capital, “Catholics should offer the message of Christ to the many who live in the fear of spirits, of evil powers by whom they feel threatened.”

He also gave a message of hope to young people, including some wounded and maimed during Angola’s long civil war, when he addressed a crowd of some 30,000 people at drum concert later.

“I think of the many tears you shed for the loss of relatives,” he told the crowd at a soccer stadium where he watched a drum concert by young men with the painted faces, and dancers in colorful costumes. The civil war started with Angola’s 1975 independence from Portugal and ended in 2002.

The 81-year-old pontiff, wearing white robes, looked tired and moved slowly in the tropical heat during the youth appearance in late afternoon.

In the morning, Benedict attracted thousands onto the streets every time his motorcade passed and delighted the crowds by speaking in Portuguese.

Drawing on the more than 500 years of Roman Catholicism in Angola, he called Christianity a bridge between the local peoples and the Portuguese settlers. The country’s history as a Portuguese colony gave the country Christian roots. Eighty percent of the 16 million people are Christian, about 65 percent Catholic.

In Africa, some churchgoing Catholics also follow traditional animist religions and consult medicine men and diviners who are denounced by the church. People accused of sorcery or of being possessed by evil powers sometimes are killed by fearful mobs.

Local media have reported that police last year rescued 40 children who had been held by two religious sects after being accused by their own families of witchcraft.

Benedict counseled Catholics to “live peacefully” with animists and other nonbelievers.