Many doors welcoming Pope Benedict to Benin

In the cities the West African nation of Benin to receive Pope Benedict XVI this weekend: symbols of the African continent’s past wound of slavery. Vocations director in Benin, Fr. Bernardin Kinnoume SMA, recalls the “door of no return” that keeps the memory alive of all those who were carried off to America and sold into the slave trade and the “door of return” that celebrates the return of former slave families as they come back to visit the country of their roots. In this interview by Fr. Moses Hamungole, Fr. Bernardin speaks of the prevailing practice of voodoo even among Christians and Muslims in Benin and the challenges this poses to evangelization. He also speaks of the scourge of human trafficking which targets mostly children in the country, of vocations, the Apostolic Exhortation that the Pope will hand over to the Bishops and the Church of Africa, and vocations. Listen to Fr. Moses’ interview with Fr. Bernardin: