REFLECTIONS OF A KENYAN PRIEST

By Fr. Casmir Odundo  I remember fondly in late March 2005, I was a form two (High School) student at St. Joseph’s Junior Seminary Molo, Kenya. We had by then closed school for the Easter and April holidays. Then suddenly it was announced that Pope John Paul II, had taken ill and was very sick. I remember watching on TV how the pilgrims kept vigil at St. Peter’s Square praying for the Pope. He was the only Pope many people had known  and so there was uncertainty of what the future would be like without him. Who could succeed such a great Pope?  On 3rd of April 2005, my mother woke me up to the news that John Paul II had died the previous day. I remember watching the announcement and I recall the spontaneous applause that followed. “Why are they clapping at such sad news?” I wondered. But the commentator on TV was gracious enough to explain that it is part of Italian tradition.  Then followed the requiem Mass on 8th April 2005, which I followed from the beginning to the end and when my

By Fr. Casmir Odundo Benedict XVI and Card. Njue   Unlike his immediate predecessor and his immediate successor, Pope Benedict XVI did not get the opportunity to visit Kenya during his Pontificate. We know that St. John Paul II, “The Pilgrim Pope'' the predecessor of Pope Benedict XVI, made 104 foreign trips in his long pontificate that included three visits to Kenya, in May 1980, August 1985 and in September 1995. Pope Francis, the successor of Pope Benedict XVI made Kenya the first African country he visited in November 2015.  However, as a cardinal and head of the then Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (future Benedict XVI)  was part of the delegation that accompanied Pope John Paul II to Nairobi, Kenya during the promulgation of the Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa in September 1995 . Again, while he did not make a pastoral visit to Kenya during his Pontificate,  Pope Benedict XVI made two Apostolic trips to Africa, vis