By Mitiku Adisu
Pope John Paul II, arguably the most influential voice for morality, traveled far and wide but died without ever setting foot in Ethiopia. His successor Pope Benedict XVI is currently visiting Cameroon and Angola, and Ethiopia is not on his itinerary. Was this because Ethiopia had resisted the 17th century forced proselytization by Rome or was it the shameful act some 75 years ago of fascist Italy sending in troops (with the blessing of the current Pope) to ransack Ethiopian churches and machine-gun the clergy as they stood praying?
Sandro, author of today's write-up [Catholic Online] beckons the reader to discover an "astonishing" island of Christian history.
... in Italy for the first time a major exhibition has been opened on another region of Christian Africa, Ethiopia, with icons, illustrated manuscripts, crosses, sculptures, paintings of evocative beauty, never before shown to the public. The title of the exhibition is: "Nigra sum sed formosa," I am dark but lovely.
The irony is that "to enjoy [this] extraordinary beauty [one has] to go to Venice" and not to Ethiopia. Indeed, it might be best to transport the artifacts back to where they belong--Ethiopia!
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