Archive April 30, 2025

In his time as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, late Pope Francis, who became known as a vocal advocate for the oppressed, the oppressed, and the marginalized, had a strong interest in Africa.

He frequently discussed the continent’s problems and advantages while demonstrating a strong commitment to it throughout his papacy. In speeches and statements, he consistently called for peace and reconciliation between African countries and stressed the importance of respecting and upholding the continent’s rich cultural diversity and local traditions. He also consistently called for the exploitation of African resources and people. During his 12-year tenure, he visited 10 African nations, each of which received a lot of media coverage and recognition as an opportunity to highlight the significance of Africa for both his Church and the world.

After all, Africa is the region where the Catholic population is growing the quickest, so Francis had plenty of reason to concentrate his attention there. Just 9.6 million Christians lived on the continent in 1900, or roughly 9.6 million. Around 750 million Christians live in Africa as of 2025. Around 281 million people worldwide, or 20% of the total, are Catholics.

Therefore, Francis’ successor must continue to maintain a firm focus on Africa as he is elected in a conclave starting on May 7. African Catholics will be anticipating more than just regular visits and complimentary speeches from their new leader as Africa quickly gains a major population center for the Church.

The Catholic Church and Africa have a complex relationship, despite its expanding appeal on the continent. The Church profited handsomely from Africans’ suffering for many years and has consequences that date back to the present.

The new Pope must address the role the Catholic Church played in the transatlantic slave trade and colonization of the continent if he is to continue building on Pope Francis’ legacy and show his commitment to Africa and Africans.

This exact point was made at a meeting with Bishop Paul Tighe, the Pontifical Council of Culture’s secretary, three years ago, in July 2022, by the Global Circle for Reparations and Healing (GCRH), a group of international reparations activists, scholars, artists, and activists from all over the world.

The coalition aimed to elicit a discussion with the Church about the significant, long-lasting harm that its extensive involvement in the transatlantic slave trade had caused to Africa and its entire diaspora at this meeting in Vatican City.

GCRH representatives gave the Church a detailed 15-page presentation that enumerated its past abuses in Africa to help a concerted healing process.

The Catholic Church’s crimes on Earth are no longer excused.

Portuguese monarchs sought the approval and assistance of the Roman Catholic Church’s Popes in order to advance their territorial ambitions in Africa from the beginning of the 15th century. In response to these royal requests, several pontiffs, who allegedly posed as the earthly representatives of Jesus Christ, issued papal bulls, or official public decrees, which approved of military operations in Africa and supported the ongoing enslavement of Africans. In the ostensible name of Jesus Christ, these bulls provided the moral and legal justification for African trafficking and enslavement, as well as for European imperialism and colonization in Africa. ​

The Church changed its focus to supporting colonization of the continent after the slave trade ended. For instance, it was crucial to the colonization of Zimbabwe, serving both as a beneficiary and a catalyst for its bloody successes.

Missionary initiatives aimed to bolster European dominance by converting “primitive” indigenous populations, which were frequently linked to colonial expansion. Two chaplains joined a “Pioneer Column force” that engaged in military conflict against African communities in 1890, leading to the colonization of Mashonaland in modern Zimbabwe. One of them was affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church and the other with the Anglican Church.

The Catholic Church immediately established mission stations on land that local communities had taken as collateral after Mashonaland’s conquest. Catholic missionaries eventually assumed a dual and frequently conflicting role. They established mission hospitals and schools in areas without such services, including St. Francis Xavier’s Kutama College and Gokomere High School, as well as moral and cultural justifications for violent European expansion. However, their support and participation in their colonial takeover did not completely negate the harm they had caused to the land and its people.

The enthusiastic support the Church offered western imperialists helped to erect a racial hierarchy that viewed Africans as inferior and legitimized white supremacy. The legacy of this once Church-approved racial hierarchy continues to shape social structures, governance, law enforcement, and economic opportunities for Africans living in diasporas across South America, Europe, and North America.

One of the enduring effects of these racial hierarchies that the Church actively helped build was the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 in the US, which led to the rise of the global Black Lives Matter movement. Outside the US, things aren’t much better. People of African descent in Brazil also “continue to endure multifaceted, deeply interconnected, and pervasive forms of systemic racism, as a result of colonialism and enslavement legacies,” according to Ashwini KP, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, in August 2024.

The Church must urgently take significant steps to compensate for its past iniquity and assist Africans in dealing with the continent’s and diaspora’s deadly consequences.

The Jesuits, a significant Catholic order, made a groundbreaking commitment to raise $100 million for the resurrected descendants of 272 ex-owners and to support racial reconciliation initiatives in March 2021. The pledge represents the most significant effort made by the Roman Catholic Church to confront its historical role in the enslavement of Africans, despite being significantly less than the $1 billion initially requested by the descendants.

The Vatican has always argued that any such actions should be managed decentralised, despite not explicitly opposing reparations for historical wrongs. However, the lack of significant progress on this front suggests a fresh approach is impermissibly needed.

The Vatican has approved a program called the National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC) and GCRH that includes a full apology, formal reparations, and genuine healing processes. This echoes the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African Union’s (AU) annual demands for reparations.

The close relationship that Pope Francis had with Africans will be enhanced by the new Pope. He will go down in history as the Pope who finally made the Church a genuine friend of Africa and made up for its mistakes by starting a comprehensive global reparations initiative.

In the twenty-first century, African Catholics have become a significant source of the Church’s authority and influence. They want nothing less from the incoming leader.

Amazon was charged by the White House with a “hostile and political act” on Tuesday by its intention to list additional tariff costs on its website. Amazon has refuted the claim, saying it won’t be displaying any additional trade charges.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized Amazon over reports that suggested the company was considering displaying the added cost of tariff duties on its online platform at a press conference held to mark President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.

When the Biden administration raised inflation to its highest level in 40 years, why didn’t Amazon do it? Asks Leavitt.

She further attacked the business, claiming that “Reuters recently wrote that] Amazon partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm” and held up what appeared to be a printout of a news article.

Although Leavitt’s comments caused a temporary drop in Amazon stock after it initially denied the White House’s assertion, it soon recovered.

The retail giant is under increasing pressure from Trump’s new tariffs, which analysts predict will cause higher prices, thanks to the White House’s tirade against it.

And while Amazon asserts that it won’t actively raise the tariffs as the cause of rising prices, other major online retailers are less sappy.

What transpired?

To illustrate how Trump’s tariffs are affecting the cost of goods, Amazon announced on Tuesday that it would soon “display how much of an item’s cost is derived from tariffs right next to the product’s total listed price.”

Instead of making a final decision, the Trump administration’s vehement response to the Punchbowl article appeared to be driven by a misinterpretation of internal plans being considered by Amazon.

Amazon issued a statement less than an hour after Leavitt’s news briefing, claiming that the main Amazon site was never taken into account despite one of its teams having discussed “the idea of listing import charges on certain products.”

A company spokesperson told The Associated Press that only Amazon’s Haul service, which has a recently launched, low-cost storefront, “considered the idea” of listing import taxes on some products. However, he claimed that this “is not going to happen.”

Trump also reportedly called Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, on Tuesday morning to complain about the rumors. After the conversation, the administration appeared to change its tune.

“Jeff Bezos was very kind,” he said. Before flying to Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, Trump declared to reporters that he was fantastic. He “quite rightly and quickly resolved a problem.” He is a trustworthy person.

Are Trump’s tariffs against China an issue for Amazon?

Trump’s tariffs and the targeted nations’ retaliatory measures, particularly China, are expected to raise prices for online retailers and, consequently, American consumers. Amazon will not be harmed.

Last year, Amazon’s US revenues exceeded $600 billion. Its main business strategy is to charge third-party sellers for their visits to its website before using those commissions to pay for its extensive delivery infrastructure.

83 percent of US households used Amazon in 2024. In recent years, the retail giant has switched from selling expensive goods like TVs and video games to more affordable items like laundry detergent and toilet paper.

Revenues have increased in turn. In the US, Amazon processed 5.9 billion delivery orders in 2023, which is a staggering 15.7 percentage point increase over the previous year. Additionally, its share of the US parcel market increased by 16.3 percentage points from the 2022 level.

Amazon accounts for roughly 40% of US e-commerce sales. Third-party merchants, many of whom are based in China, are a significant part of its business model, who can offer competitive prices because of low manufacturing and regulatory costs.

According to a 2024 survey by Jungle Scout, a staggering 71% of the products sold by Amazon in the US are produced in China. That’s 2.5 times more than the volume of products that are imported from the US, to put it in context.

Third-party sellers now have the option of lowering prices or taking on Trump’s tariffs’ additional costs. Many merchants who rely on razor-thin margins are in danger of dying from it. E-commerce will experience a decline.

What do other retailers do?

Trump’s trade policies have been decried by a large number of online retailers. Several well-known companies, including Temu and Shein, Temu’s rivals, have already raised prices, highlighting specifically the cost of tariffs.

In separate, almost identical notes earlier this month, Temu and Shein reported that their operating costs had increased “due to recent changes in global trade rules and tariffs.” On April 25, they both announced price increases.

Temu, owned by PDD Holdings, a Chinese online retailer, now lists more “import charges,” which are said to have doubled the price of numerous items, despite the fact that they currently appear to be exempt.

Shein, which is focused on fast fashion and is based in Singapore, has a checkout bar that now reads, “Tariffs are included in the price you pay.” You’ll never be required to pay extra for delivery.

Temu and Shein have experienced rapid growth in recent years; in fact, in the US in 2023, they were the top two apps in the country. However, their share of the e-commerce market is still much smaller than Amazon.

However, they are still subject to tariffs on Chinese imports.

Nearly half of Temu and Shein’s goods shipments to the United States came from China, or 600, 000 packages a day, according to a US House Select Committee investigation conducted in 2023. ​

Temu and Shein are attempting to relocate some production lines to the US and maintain more inventory there, along with other e-commerce companies. However, these measures won’t be enough to stop Americans from snub higher prices.

What will happen to consumer prices?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies and countermeasures by the country’s trading partners will likely have a significant impact on US prosperity.

The IMF forecast a 2.7% annual growth rate for the US economy at the beginning of the year in 2025. The fund’s projection was lowered to 1.8% after Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs were made public.

Consumer prices are also starting to deteriorate, and the IMF is now reporting a 3 percent increase in US inflation this year, up from the 2 percent forecast for January. Chinese imports will be a significant part of this increase.

Jerome Powell, the head of the US Federal Reserve, warned on April 16 that Trump’s tariffs would have a “challenging scenario” for the central bank and likely lead to higher inflation.

Powell continued, stating that “at least a temporary rise in inflation” was likely to be the result of Trump’s tariffs. He added that “the inflationary effects may also be more pervasive.”