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La Republica, February 5, 1993
EcuмENISM : POPE DIALOGUES WITH VOODOO SUPREME HIGH "PRIEST"GUEDEGUE
"Two monarchs, head to head, "One is John Paul II, the true Pope, head of the universal Catholic Church .... who traveled from the Vatican to Africa. The other is the 'high priest' Guedegue, the supreme head of Voodoo, which in Benin counts a quarter of the population, and <B>the one who represents the spiritual point of reference for all the followers of the world of that religion of the Devil.
"At the meeting with the Pontiff, Guedegue was accompanied by a hundred 'priests' all proudly garbed in traditional 'vestments' and with their faces marked by long scars - a vestige of their initiations into the voodoo cult. The Pope received them with great respect and did not lose the opportunity to talk about dialogue, constructive relationships, and religious liberty."
JPII Praises Voodoo Worship
Meeting with Guedegue of Benin, the Supreme Voodoo high-priest of the World, on February 4, 1993 during his visit to Benin, John Paul II gives the rationale to justify voodoo worship according to the principles of Vatican II.
From: John Paull II, Greeting to a Voodoo high-priest of Benin, published under the title "La libertà religiosa è un diritto inalienabile," in L'Osservatore Romano, February 6, 1993, p. 4:
Dear friends,
I am pleased to have this occasion to meet you, and I very cordially greet you. As you know, I came to Benin principally to visit with the Catholic community, to encourage it and confirm it in the faith. However, I have always thought that contact with persons who belong to other religious traditions is an important part of my ministry.
Indeed, the Catholic Church is favorable to dialogue: dialogue with Christians of other churches and ecclesial communities, dialogue with believers of other spiritual families, and dialogue even with those who do not profess any religion. The Church establishes positive and constructive relations with persons and human groups of other creeds for a reciprocal enrichment. <p>
Vatican Council II …. recognized that there are truth and good, seeds of the Word, in the various religious traditions. …
These provide the foundations for a fruitful dialogue, as the Apostle Paul said to the first Christians: “Everything that is true, noble, just, pure, amiable, honorable, whatever is virtuous and deserves praise, let all these things be the object of your thinking.” From this comes our approach of respect [toward you]: respect for true values wherever they are, and overall respect for the man who looks to live these values that help him set aside fear.
You are strongly attached to the traditions which your ancestors transmitted to you. It is legitimate to recognize the ancestors who transmitted to you the sense of the sacral, faith in a one and good god, your tastes for celebrations, and consideration for moral life and harmony in society.
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La Docuмentation Catholique, Dec. 7, 1986.
Voodoo priests were among the guests of John Paul II at the panreligious meeting of Assisi. They were accorded the same treatment as the other confessions and were given a place to carry out their worship.
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