Pope Benedict 14 has opened a summit in Rome on the Catholic Church in Africa. After praising the African Church for its strength (spiritual vitality), he also rebukes them for their weaknesses (materialism and a penchant for extremisms).

All fine, so far. Everyone needs a little correcting. But Benedict, who is more than capable of choosing his words with care, lets his African flock off the hook:

But he said Africa has also been afflicted by materialism — the "toxic spiritual garbage" exported by developed countries. "In this sense, colonialism — while finished in the political sphere — hasn't really ended," he said.

African Christians remain children, apparently, innocent of their own excesses. Africans are good spiritual folk, but a little naïve about worldly materialism, and thus easily sucked in by imported garbage.

No: if Africa is going to be the spiritual home for Christianity for the 21st century, then let us (pardon the language here) let them stand on their own two feet and be men. Let us honor their strengths and rebuke their errors and above all, treat them as our equals or betters. Enough of this grasping for influence.

It may be true that materialistic faith comes from developed countries. So did the Pentecostalism currently dominant in Africa.

That doesn’t mean that African Pentecostalism has not in the meanwhile become fully homegrown; neither should it mean that Africans must forever remain simple victims of Western materialism.

Can they not also be complicit?