Native African Bishops: Emerging Voices on the Eve of Vatican II (1959–1960)

Some scholars have advanced timidity and conformism as typifying the contributions of young missionary churches, such as the Catholic Church in Africa at the antepreparatory phase of the Second Vatican Council. It has further been suggested that these features are more characteristic of the native prelates than their foreign missionary counterparts. This article, focusing on the vota of the indigenous African bishops, contests this stance to say that boldness, broad-mindedness, keen desire for adaptation, aggiornamento [updating], and reform were not lacking in the responses of these natives. Through a close study of the vota of these African-born prelates, the present essay demonstrates that these nascent native clergy found their voice right from the antepreparatory phase of Vatican II, and manifested their acute awareness of the reforms and adaptations they expected from the Council. Perceptible signs of reticence and timidity should thus be seen more as a general feature that could be identified with some individual bishops and prelates in all continents.