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LUANDA, Angola Tens of thousands of Angola's Catholics lined the streets of the capital Saturday for a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged the country's faithful to reach out and convert people who believe in witchcraft.

But a stampede at a stadium before one of the pope's speeches left two people dead and others injured.

"The pope is very upset," a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said late Saturday.

The stampede broke out as the gates to Coqueiros stadium opened hours before Benedict arrived, Lombardi said.

Portuguese news agency LUSA cited an unidentified source at a local hospital as saying a man and a woman were killed, eight others were hospitalized with minor injuries, and 10 were given medical assistance at the site.

An AP reporter saw another stampede break out when the pope arrived, and at least 20 people were taken away in ambulances.

The 81-year-old pontiff, wearing white robes, looked tired and moved slowly in the tropical heat during the stadium appearance before some 30,000 people in late afternoon. He gave a message of hope to young people, including some wounded and maimed during Angola's long civil war that started with Angola's 1975 independence from Portugal and ended in 2002.

In the morning, Benedict attracted thousands onto the streets every time his motorcade passed and delighted the crowds by speaking in Portuguese.

Drawing on the more than 500 years of Roman Catholicism in Angola, he called Christianity a bridge between the local peoples and the Portuguese settlers. Eighty percent of the 16 million people are Christian, about 65 percent Catholic.

Benedict began his day addressing Catholic clergymen and nuns, telling them to be missionaries to those Angolans "living in fear of spirits, of malign and threatening powers. In their bewilderment they end up even condemning street children and the elderly as alleged sorcerers."

In Africa, some churchgoing Catholics also follow traditional animist religions and consult medicine men and diviners who are denounced by the church. People accused of sorcery or of being possessed by evil powers sometimes are killed by fearful mobs.

Local media have reported that police last year rescued 40 children who had been held by two religious sects after being accused by their own families of witchcraft.

Benedict counseled Catholics to "live peacefully" with animists and other nonbelievers and urged Angolans to be the "new missionaries" to bring people who believe in sorcery to Christ.

typical catholic war monger, thinking he has the right to tell people how to live there lives. these type people do have some value to me, there always good for a laugh

why do you hate religous people so much?

why? simple, religious people believe they have the right to tell people how to live there lives. religious people believe they have the right to tell people who can and can not get married. religious people run around thinking they can condemn people for what they believe in. NO ONE and i mean NO ONE has the right to tell anyone what they can and can not do with there lives or their bodies. if gays want to get married then let them, they should have the right to be just as miserable as the rest of us married folk. if a women wants to get an abortion,it is her bod, not theres. if some one wants to believe in a different higher power they should have that right without being persacuded for it. but no, morons like the pope there telling his mindless followers to convert those that believe in witchcraft seem to think they are the law. last moron that got into my face and told me i was wrong and i should live my life like they do got the smurk smacked right off his face.

dont get me wrong, this doesnt include all religious people, just the morons who think they have the right to tell people how to live there life

"LUANDA, Angola Tens of thousands of Angola's Catholics lined the streets of the capital Saturday for a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged the country's faithful to reach out and convert people who believe in witchcraft." - Hunter_Rep

I think that was done before way back in history....... Didn't some pope change the sabbath day to sunday in order to "convert" the pagans to christianity?

gtr,after the resurection of Christ His followers started meeting before sunrise to break bread,and celebrate his resurection,worship and encourage each other,calling sunday the Lord's day,because He came back to life early sunday morning,following His crucifiction friday,many of them continued to go to temple on saturdays the jewish sabbath,those who had seen Christ after His ressurection didnt call Sunday the sabbath,they became unwelcome in temple activities,and nonjews began to believe that He was who He claimed to be,and they became followers of what was then called "the way" but did not become jews,fast forward from 1rst to 3rd century,the emperor constantine is in power,the day of resurection is still memorialised as the day of resurection,or 8th day,as it is still known in the east,constantine lifts the persecution of christians,declares it the religion of the empire,and makes the "Lord's day" ie sunday,the new sabbath,to the ire of the jews.

I realise this is an anti-religous thread, I'm not preaching just answering a question since no one else did,gtr420 your thinking of christmas.

no this is not an anti religious thread, it may seem that way but it is not. this is just to point out how religious people seem to think they have the right to tell others how they live. if a person wants to believe in a "higher power" then go right ahead, just dont tell me or others what or what they shouldnt believe in. do not tell others how to live there lives. i do not care if yer an old man wearing a big white hat or a door to door preacher. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME OR OTHERS WHAT TO DO!!!!

one of my best friends in here is Robbi, he is a believer, he has his opinion and i have mine, but he respects my opinion and i respect his, mainly because i have never heard him tell some one what to do based on his religion

one of my best friends in here is Robbi, he is a believer, he has his opinion and i have mine, but he respects my opinion and i respect his, mainly because i have never heard him tell some one what to do based on his religion

You're absolutly correct Rep. To each his own.

Adam.....don't believe a word......I'm his ONLY friend in here......and WE tolerate each other..........LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

^^LOL

Ahh... sounds like the ones Hunter is referring to are the arrogant folks that use faith as an excuse for their intolerant and controlling ways..... But doesn't the bible say something about "judge not lest ye be judged thyself"? Anyway, those are not truly religious people, religion just happens to be their scapegoat.

BTW thanks adam for the explanation, I do find myself fascinated by religious history.

ditto gtr,religous history is probably one of my favorite topics in the world,and though i am a religous person myself,and wont apologise for it,i am often pretty disenchanted with american evangelical christianity as a whole for the very reasons you mentioned,also being divorced often makes 1 kind of a 2nd class citizen in the church,though i dont believe in divorce at all the fact is that i am,so dont fit in in the church or outside of it, like a leper,unclean,unclean,lol

there are a lot of faults with organised religion,but a lot of things good too have come from it to everyones benefit,feeding those who cant feed themselves,hospice care,widows and orphans care,Alcoholics Anonymous,people being kind to others when their instincts say to kill them instead,the list is adinfinitum, i am often unable to separate religous history from secular history because for me they seem so intertwined,i like a lot of the commonalities between the spiritual disciplines of the various faiths also,i had a muslim friend from croatia and we talked about our religion all the time and never argued with each other,it was pretty cool

Don't look at me..

I'm just his lawyer....

And his campaign manager when election time comes up Hooterville....

Avete All !!

Quote : LUANDA, Angola Tens of thousands of Angola's Catholics lined the streets of the capital Saturday for a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI, who urged the country's faithful to reach out and convert people who believe in witchcraft.

But a stampede at a stadium before one of the pope's speeches left two people dead and others injured.

Quote :

In Africa, some churchgoing Catholics also follow traditional animist religions and consult medicine men and diviners who are denounced by the church. People accused of sorcery or of being possessed by evil powers sometimes are killed by fearful mobs.

Saw the funnier side to this ,,As long as the Pope keeps making public appearences and encoraging Pagans to listen to his words ,,If they dont repent they can allways be trampled to death.

Hmmmm Thats a tactic they could make movie titles on ,,Christian Mafia ,,who needs guns when you can just walk all over poeple in brute force.All I can say is ,,if some good samaritan type invites you to a gathering and asks you to dress differently from the crowd ,,It might be a good idea to decline graciously ,order pizza and stay in.

Can totally see where your comming from Rep ,,am a great believer in inspirating others by being true to yourself and a good person ,,rather than being a pusher of anything .Opinion can be offered without the feeling that if not taken ,,you will be forever condemned.

And as for the break down of marriage ,,we cant all get it right the first time Adam.

SHEMHAMFORASH !!!!

SpiritRogue

The Light Shines in the Darkness and the Darkness understands it Not.

it is not that i love the Pope, but at least Catholic Church tells us or teaches us the right way, i mean, same sex marriages or to adopt children by gays and lesvians is not good.

now i do blame the Pope and all the Churches because of the money and properties they have got in 2000 years, instead of sharing it with the poorest

yeah,christianity is usually much better off when it is a persecuted religion,it doesnt do very well when it is prosperous and in a position of power and respectability

One of the mistakes that the Catholic Church is making is telling people not to use birth control. This creates a problem in areas like Africa where there is widespread AIDS. Aside from the usual "right to life" and "you should only have one sex partner" reasonings of the church, I can only assume that they are thinking that if Catholics don't practice birth control, there will be more Catholics born. This will ultimately lead to more Catholic idealism in the world (and more donations to the Catholic church.) Personally, I think the health of a community should come first and that the Catholic church should endorse providing condoms to prevent the spread of disease.

I understand Hunter's point and I agree completely.

To each their own, but please don't try to push some of that ridiculous nonsense on me.

I recall hearing about a Congolese tribe that killed two missonaries, BOILED and ATE them, then mysteriously died.

They were probably Friars (Fryers).

I didn't think the Congolese "had a taste" for religion....

Hm, Religion might be poisonous if eaten rare