African Bishops Sick of West’s ‘Ideological Colonization’

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DETROIT, September 17, 2015 (ChurchMilitant.com) - Western powers must stop pushing their ideological culture of death in Africa under the guise of economic and humanitarian aid.

That's what 45 bishops from 40 different countries across Africa are jointly declaring in the newly published "Common Declaration of the Bishops of Africa and Madagascar."

They implore the world to be open to the "human and spiritual contribution" Africa has to offer "at the hour when moral decadence has produced in other continents ills that we, Africans, do not want!" Thus, they also urge everyone to help "[p]rotect and defend the age-old values" of the continent.

With this request, the African prelates expound on that moral wisdom they seek to preserve in their land. Hence, to anyone willing to listen, they advise, "Do not give in to the triple seduction of pleasure, money and power!"

"Selfish and perverse interests are imposing themselves on our continent with a speed that keeps on accelerating, with unabated aggressiveness, in an ever more organized and powerfully financed manner," they warn, "introducing individualism and hedonism, both of which are so foreign to what we are and want to be, into our societies."

We therefore implore you to end the filthy campaigns that promote a civilization of death on our continent. This has to do with a terrifying resurgence of a colonialist spirit under the guise of the appealing names of liberty, equality, rights, autonomy, democratization and development. Condoms, contraceptives, sex education programs fabricated elsewhere, purely technical and deprived of moral content, so-called "safe abortions," have become commodities that are more accessible to Africans than the way of delivering integral development, of which we have such a vital need. It can no longer be denied that under the euphemism of "sexual and reproductive health and rights," such programs are plainly imposed as a condition for development assistance. Such is also the case of the so-called "gender perspective," according to which motherhood, the filial and nuptial identity of the human being and the family based on marriage between a man and a woman would be "discriminatory stereotypes." No! Women and men in Africa are not mere individuals, autonomous from their parents, spouses, children: women, men, children, we are all persons, created out of love and for love, and we all belong to a family and a community, vitally, ontologically and emotionally united!

Echoing St. John Paul II's concept of a "culture of death," the African bishops continue to accuse subversive groups of trying to export a similar scourge into their continent.

"The agents of the civilization of death are using ambivalent language, seducing decision-makers and entire populations," they declare, "in order to make them partners in the pursuit of their ideological objectives. They are coopting a great many in partnerships of which they are, in reality, the masters."

"They take advantage of poverty, weakness and ignorance in order to subject peoples and governments to their blackmail."

These tactics, as they effectively seek to remove or abuse the freedom and dignity of entire peoples, amount to a form of bondage, the African leaders insist.

"This is a new type of slavery! We want the dignity of our people to be respected."

"No!" they cry, "Africa is not a great potential market for the pharmaceutical industry of contraceptives and condoms."

"Yes! Africa is populated by men, women and children endowed with a transcendent dignity and a magnificent and eternal vocation," the bishops counter. "The African people have an irreplaceable mission towards humanity today."

From here, the statement begins to delve into some of the arguable motives of the agencies behind the growing "neo-colonialism."

They ask, "By what right do Western NGOs, who only represent their own ideological interests, claim to legally bind African states to their world vision? Why such a programing and will to pollute and pervert, extending throughout the African continent?"

The answer reduces to a type of anti-marriage — and thus anti-family, anti-child — population control.

These political and economic pressures have but one objective: the drastic control and reduction of the African population, the planned destruction of marriage and the family. We Africans must categorically say No to this plan, which is killing our continent. Pope Francis exhorts us to "be on guard against colonization by new ideologies. There are forms of ideological colonization which are out to destroy the family. They are not born of dreams, of prayers, of closeness to God or the mission which God gave us; they come from without, and for that reason I am saying that they are forms of colonization. Let's not lose the freedom of the mission which God has given us, the mission of the family. Just as our peoples, at a certain moment of their history, were mature enough to say 'no' to all forms of political colonization, so too in our families we need to be very wise, very shrewd, very strong, in order to say 'no' to all attempts at an ideological colonization of our families." (hyperlink added)

The bishops' statement doesn't mince words when it comes to the gravity of sin being imposed on a massive scale.

"The billions of dollars allotted to the production and distribution of condoms and contraceptives and to the establishment of sex-education programs that do not respect universal moral norms," they state, "are a scandal that cries to Heaven for vengeance, a new slavery at the service of the idol 'money.'"

Again highlighting the twisted agenda of diminishing the African peoples, they compare it to what has already ravaged the European peoples. They explain, "The objective that is clearly being pursued is, inter alia, the efficient control of demographic growth in Africa, according to the western 'model,' which has become a zero growth model in Europe today."

With this established, the bishops issue demands and outline duties for overcoming the looming continental threat.

We call upon the responsibility of Africans who, bought by money, collaborate with these hideous and deadly agendas. We urge political and religious leaders, who have the heavy task of leading and protecting our African populations, to study with attention and analyze with great care and a sense of responsibility the documents, strategies and development programs of global governance. These documents, even though they appear, in their external presentation and formulation, to procure elements of well-being and prosperity for all, are in reality real programs of destruction of the poor and humanity’s values, and not of a development that would respect the dignity and sacredness of the human person and the well-being of the family, when they integrate, often in hidden ways, the agenda of the western sexual revolution.

Furthermore, the bishops make a simple, heart-felt plea to their enemies, whom they identify as promoters of "so-called 'sexual liberation' agendas."

"[L]isten to the voice of your conscience! Wake up your conscience!" they urge. "Remember that every human person will have to render an account of their actions before God."

And as far as governments' and international agencies' responsibilities go, Africa's bishops aren't afraid to weigh in on such political matters. These groups are "bound to respect that which all men and women can recognize as real, true, and good in their conscience and in their heart. They are bound to honor the transcendence, centrality and superiority in value of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman, of maternity and life, and of religion."

Given the uncompromising nature of the whole document, it would seem the current prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship, Cdl. Robert Sarah of Guinea, may have been onto something prophetic when he confidently predicted "Africa will save the family."

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