WILL
ARINZE
BE THE FIRST AFRICAN ELECTED POPE IN RECENT
HISTORY?
To our Brother Cardinal
Arinze: May your pastoral lineage endure!
Special and Exclusive to USAfrica The
Newspaper, Houston, CLASS
magazine
USAfricaonline.com
and The
Black Business Journal
que
section of the Christian community. In deftly respecting and showing
sensitivity to the cultural contexts for religious evangelization and
work in different regions of the world, Arinze (a Nigerian from the
south eastern Igbo ethnic group as is the literary giant Prof. Chinua
Achebe) seems a fitting bridge for a common, shared theology of
humankind. Our brother, The Cardinal, is neither extreme in words nor
brash in personal conduct, he also stands as a role model who should
be emulated by many, especially in the community of his natural
origin, the Nigerian community. Among other qualities, he shows
scholarship and a rare balance of reason and theology.
Houston, Texas, April 25, 2002: He is the highest ranking Black in
the inner sanctum of the Vatican, the home of the Roman Catholic
Church. Many say, he's in line for consideration to become Pope. He
does not and never encourages the projection of the possibility of
his succeeding the current Pope, John Paul II. In fact, he frowns at
it. 
Cardinal Francis Arinze, the unique and distinctly cerebral personality appeared on the cover page of the USAfrica The Newspaper, dated April 14, 1999 (Vol. 6#4).
Essentially, I attempt ed to capture and distil the fact that he embodies the hopes and endurance of a people, a community, a faith and the inter-connectedness of humankind. He celebrated his Easter weekend with members of the African community in the U.S, and principally members of the Roman Catholic faith.
As the facilitator of inter-religious dialogue, he has seen and interacted with differing religionists who, to varying degrees, embody zealotry and reason, lucidity of thought and rock-ribbed dogmatisms. He also did this time in Houston, discussing with members of other faiths.
By being a major voice for Roman Catholicism in Africa, he has enriched the goals of the Vatican to win more souls to that unique section of the Christian community.
In deftly respecting and showing sensitivity to the cultural contexts for religious evangelization and work in different regions of the world, Arinze (a Nigerian from the south eastern Igbo ethnic group as is the literary giant Prof. Chinua Achebe) seems a fitting bridge for a common, shared theology of humankind. Our brother, The Cardinal, is neither extreme in words nor brash in personal conduct, he also stands as a role model who should be emulated by many, especially in the community of his natural origin, the Nigerian community. Among other qualities, he shows scholarship and a rare balance of reason and theology.
Most of His Eminencešs compatriots should begin by turning away from the hypocrisy of prayerful supplication in the morning and turning like chameleons in the evening to agents of backbiting, divisiveness, showboating, uncouth indulgences, economic excesses masked in false and misleading lifestyles, loud and quarrelsome wastes of energy and resources over all manner of banalities.
Like our brother, The Cardinal, we should do good for all; we
should without malice to anyone, and with the fear of God. Brother
Cardinal Arinze, may your pastoral lineage endure, and let there be
more like you! Mazi, ji do kwa k'iji.
Chido Nwangwu,
Founder & Publisher of the first African-owned, U.S.-based
professional newspaper to be published on the Internet USAfricaonline.com,
USAfrica The Newspaper, The Black Business Journal, BBJonline.com,
and CLASS
magazine, is the recipient of the Journalism Excellence
Award, HABJ 1997. He serves as an adviser to the Mayor of Houston on
international business (Africa). Chido Nwangwu is writing a book on
the experiences
of recent African immigrants in the U.S.
These notes on Arinze were first written and posted online on
April 7, 1999. Photo by Linda Schaefer of the Catholic Archdiocese of
Atlanta
|
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AGENDABush's position on Africa is "ill-advised." The position stated by Republican presidential aspirant and Governor of Texas, George Bush where  he
said that "Africa will not be an area of priority" in his
presidency has been questioned by
USAfricaonline.com Publisher Chido
Nwangwu. He added that Bush's "pre-election position was
neither validated by the economic exchanges nor
geo-strategic interests of our two continents."
These views were stated
during an interview CNN's anchor Bernard Shaw and senior
analyst Jeff Greenfield had with Mr. Nwangwu on Saturday
November 18, 2000 during a special edition of 'Inside
Politics 2000.' Nwangwu,
adviser to the Mayor of Houston (the 4th largest city in the
U.S., and immigrant home to thousands of Africans) argued
further that "the issues of the heritage interests of 35
million African-Americans in Africa, the volume and value of
oil business between between the U.S and Nigeria and the
horrendous AIDS crisis in Africa do not lend any basis for
Governor Bush's ill-advised
position which
removes Africa from fair consideration" were he to be
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ARTSThe Life and Irreverent times of Afrobeat superstar, FELA 
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ARINZE BE THE
FIRST
POPE of RECENT
AFRICAN
ORIGIN?
To our Brother Cardinal
Arinze: May your pastoral lineage endure!
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The coup in Cote d'Ivoire and its implications for democracy in Africa. By Chido Nwangwu (Related commentary) Coup in Cote d'Ivoire has been in the waiting. By Tom Kamara |
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source
for an engaging understanding of African pre-colonial,
colonial and post-colonial history and realities. I believe
that such insight has made him a favorite of
African-Americans, and other scholars and regular folks in
search of a better, realistic understanding of Africa, at
least, from Achebe's utilization of his rich and dynamic
Igbo ancestry, in south eastern Nigeria. I share the same
ancestry, and he's one of 
USAfricaonline.com
Founder Chido Nwangwu with the U.S. former Ambassador
Carrington (right) at the U.S. embassy in Lagos during a
courtesy visit.
Obasanjo: Let me say this to you, when you put the question
of 10,000 -- 10,000 people dying in Nigeria, of course, for
a population of over 120 million people...."
But USAfricaonline.com Founder and
recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997),