Africa Is Not Ready, Pope Leo’s Election Not ‘Emilokan’ – Bishop Kukah
The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, has doubted the possibility of having a pope from Africa, saying the election process is not a rotational system based on region, and the outcome is unpredictable, unlike in Nigerian politics.
Bishop Kukah, in an interview with Channels TV, noted that Africa has a long way to go to produce a pope because the pope’s election is unlike President Bola Tinubu’s “Emilokan” politics.
Asked to share his views on calls from some quarters for the election of the Catholic head of African descent, Mr Kukah said, “As you know, electing a pope is not like that; it’s not an ‘Emilokan’ scenario in which you say, ‘These people have had their turn, now it’s our turn.’ No, it doesn’t work like that.”
The cleric said that, unlike other elections worldwide, where candidates are allowed to seek votes or put out a manifesto, the cardinals who elect a new pope are unfamiliar with one another.
“Every Catholic and every Christian believes that it is the Holy Spirit that does this because 133 people go in with name tags because everybody doesn’t know everybody.
“Holy Spirit has his way of aggregating what he wants. So, we are going to do what human beings do, but God already has an idea about what exactly it is that He wants of his church, and from the time of Peter till date, the Holy Spirit has not failed the church,” he said.
Bishop Kukah said that rather than pushing to produce the Catholic pontiff, Africa should start by winning the World Cup.
“Well, let’s win the World Cup first. I think we still have a long way to go. I did write an article in the course of all of this, and I remember remarking on something that happened when Pope John Paul II died and the speculators thought that Cardinal Arinze came very close,” he said.
Olamilekan Adigun is a graduate of Mass Communication with years of experience in journalism embedded in uncovering human interest stories. He also prioritises accuracy and factual reportage of issues.
