Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu of Cape Town has said the jury is still out on Pope Benedict XVI. "We must live in hope," he said yesterday.
Dr Tutu, who preached at the Church of Ireland's multi-racial "Discovery Service" in St George's and St Thomas's Church, Dublin, called on G8 countries to support British chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown's "Marshall Plan for Africa."
He said he was disappointed about the election of Pope Benedict, describing him as a "rigid conservative" out of step with the times. Had he been a cardinal, "I would not have given my vote to the new Pope," Dr Tutu said.
In Dublin yesterday he acknowledged "some things the Pope has said since election would make one hopeful . . . and the Holy Spirit does do some extraordinary things. I have great faith in the Holy Spirit, who is in charge of the church after all."
In the past he criticised then Cardinal Ratzinger's description of other religions as "gravely deficient" and of Reformed churches as "not churches in the proper sense".
Dr Tutu said it was important that the new Pope was open to dialogue with other religions. "We need church leaders who are open to inter-faith dialogue, who are aware that the truth is not encapsulated only in the Christian faith," he said.
"God is not a Christian," Dr Tutu asserted, and were he so "he would be a very small God. If God is Christian, what was he before Christianity? What was Moses? What about Mahatma Gandhi. God is in every single person. Muslims, Jews, Christians are all God's children. There is only one God and he is the God of all."
He was very hopeful that at the G8 meeting next month, "leaders of the developed world will help Africa out of the morass".
It was in everyone's self-interest to do so, not least in the context of fighting a war against terror.
"As long as conditions of poverty continue in the world they will drive people to be desperate," Dr Tutu said.
The G8 should do for Africa what happened in Europe after the second World War through the Marshall Plan. "No one said then Europe had to pull itself up by its own boot straps," he added.
He commended Bob Geldof and Bono for using their celebrity status to make the world aware of these issues
He counselled against giving up hope on Northern Ireland, recalling how "when we were struggling at home, it was a roller-coaster between highs and the slough of despond".
The exuberant Discovery Service, attended by an overflow mixed-race congregation of about 400, was conducted by Archbishop John Neill, the Rev Katherine Poulton, the Rev Horace McKinley and the Rev Patrick Comerford.
Archbishop Tutu spoke of his joy at attending "such a glorious, glorious service" with its "fantastic choir". On a multi-racial theme, he described creation as "an explosion of diversity" and advised those present to "go out into this beautiful Emerald Isle and tell them the rainbow is a rainbow only because of its colours . . . tell them God thinks in technicolour and that his creation is an extravaganza".
Outside later he autographed copies of Monday's edition of The Irish Times, where he appeared in a front-page photograph wearing a Dublin jersey at Sunday's Meath/Dublin match in Croke Park.
"It was fun being there, and seeing the passion people have was marvellous," he said.
A passing Dublin man reached through the crowd and grabbed Dr Tutu's hand, before saying "thanks bishop for supporting the Dubs and with your prayers we'll win the all-Ireland".