Ahead of next week’s papal conclave, Friday’s edition of CBS Evening News was caught in a tough situation. On one hand, being the diversity-conscious liberal show that it is, Africa correspondent Debora Patta lamented Africans are not reflected in the Vatican’s halls of power despite Catholicism growing in the area. On the other, Patta warned that an African pope would not be the pro-LGBTQ reformer liberals would want him to be.
Talking over footage of African worshipers, Patta set the scene, “This is the face of the Catholic Church's future. The African continent is its fastest growing region. Home to at least one-fifth of its followers. That's more than 272 million people.”
However, she also added, “But while Africa may be a spiritual powerhouse, that strength is not reflected in the Vatican corridors.”
Patta then showed two clips. One featured a woman declaring, “As a black child myself, I would be very beautiful to be a black African pope,” and the other featured a man asserting that, “I think it was very clear that a change needs to be on the site of the marginalized, the poor, the suffering.”
Recalling Pope Francis’s troubles with the African Church, Patta resumed, “During his 12-year reign, Pope Francis visited ten African nations and always went to where the pain was most felt. South African priest Father Russell Pollitt says there are obstacles to electing an African pope, as the church tries to remain relevant. Thirty-one of Africa's 54 nations have criminalized homosexuality, and its clergy have mostly remained silent.”
Pollitt spoke broadly about who would replace Francis and the challenges he will face in Africa, “Whoever it is going to also, in a way, walk that tightrope of being able to speak into the African context because I think Francis lost the African Church after he put the document out on the blessing of gay people.”
Liberals, journalists very much included, just assume that colonialism and imperialism are right-wing phenomena, but many people in Africa view what we may call liberal culture war issues as a form of cultural imperialism. If the African Church was resisting Francis’s moves, than maybe the media’s portrayal of conservative American critics being fixated on culture war issues is unfair.
Here is a transcript for the May 2 show:
CBS Evening News
5/2/2025
6:38 PM ET
DEBORA PATTA: This is the face of the Catholic Church's future. The African continent is its fastest growing region. Home to at least one-fifth of its followers. That's more than 272 million people.
CONGREGATION: Hear our prayers.
PATTA: But while Africa may be a spiritual powerhouse, that strength is not reflected in the Vatican corridors.
WOMAN: As a black child myself, I would be very beautiful to be a black African pope.
MAN: I think it was very clear that the church needs to be on the site of the marginalized, the poor, the suffering.
PATTA: During his 12-year reign, Pope Francis visited ten African nations and always went to where the pain was most felt. South African priest Father Russell Pollitt says there are obstacles to electing an African pope, as the church tries to remain relevant. Thirty-one of Africa's 54 nations have criminalized homosexuality, and its clergy have mostly remained silent.
RUSSELL POLLITT: Whoever it is going to also, in a way, walk that tightrope of being able to speak into the African context because I think Francis lost the African Church after he put the document out on the blessing of gay people.
