Growing African Church Often Splits With Pope

"As Pope Benedict XVI makes his first pilgrimage to the continent this week, the church faces enormous challenges. Yet the number of Catholics has ballooned in the last century from fewer than 2 million to nearly 140 million — making it the most fertile ground in the world for Catholicism. Africa also is producing priests at a higher rate than anyone else, with ordinations rising by nearly 30 percent in 2007, the Vatican reported last month. . ."