As the world watched the Vatican chimney hoping for white smoke, many prayed for someone to take Francis’ place. For some a degree of enthusiasm existed that election of an African pope was preferable. I would, from a purely ethnic point, have liked to see this happen. From a rational point, the three electable African cardinals’ conservative ideology would have served to keep humanity in the doldrums of progress. My opinion is none of the Africans were fit enough to replace Francis — who spoke quietly, in an idiom of wisdom and inclusivity.

The 134 members of the College of Cardinals elected a man whom few of us had ever heard of. Now the Internet, airwaves, and newspapers are filled with descriptions of the former Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, who, upon election, chose to be called Pope Leo XIV. He is not a clone of Francis; no one expects him to behave like Francis. But his story indicates he will be closer to Francis in his guidance of the church than the previous Popes — Benedict and John Paul.

In general, African Christian leadership has been more conservative than their Western counterparts; a conservatism many African heads of state have emulated. Laws passed in places like Ghana and Uganda reflect an astringent point of view that mirrors our American Right’s religio-political bent. In Uganda, U.S. evangelicals have fanned the flames that help homophobia flourish.

A “kill the gays” bill of 2009 eventually became the anti-homosexuality law of 2023. African Christian leaders present a bulwark against the acceptance of LGBT rights that we see in the rest of the world.

With more than $2 billion of American money, the made-in-the-USA movement and ideology is polarizing African countries, harming and endangering LGBT people.

During Kenya’s war of independence against our British rulers, Black Christian clergy aided White settlers. I remember seeing an African Catholic priest whip an unlucky woman for some minor infraction against the British. The clerical violence of then continues to inform today’s Christian church in Africa; it most probably results from the fact that many colonial-era laws were never abrogated. Power from those laws continues to animate African men — and it’s only men — of the cloth.

Pope Francis looked at humanity with a sympathetic gaze. His statement, ”who am I to judge them” referring to gay people, meant that we should look at people’s humanity and attempts at being worthy citizens. Contrast that to the African Cardinals Robert Sarah of Cameroon, Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa and a number of others, who were very critical of Francis’ attitude towards gay people. Sarah contended that Western prelates were “paralyzed by the idea of opposing the world,” tempted by a “fluid and practical atheism.”

At a time when millions were dying in Africa from HIV/Aids, the Catholic Church opposed the use of condoms that are known to minimize the transmission of infections. At a time of grinding poverty and malnutrition, the church continues to prohibit the use of oral or physical contraception. The Catholic church’s, like the American evangelical movement’s antigay attitude, lacks the scientific conclusion on homosexuality.

Leo XIV distinguishes himself by being a scientist who has used his hands to serve: promoting poor people’s wellbeing, health care and daily survival. By living among the poor in Peru, Leo shared their humanity, and like Francis, he eschewed the trappings of his office. I see him following Francis’ path, speaking to the world in simple terms with actions that are free from racism. An African Pope made from the current mold would not have succeeded as well.

I write this as someone brought up in the African conservative Catholicism of the 1960s and 1970s when eating meat on Friday was forbidden. Many prohibitions played prime roles in our lives. I write this from a belief that it matters not how or to what you pray, and for many humans, “hell is other people.” Where I once thought that only Catholics could go to heaven, I now know that for the lucky ones, heaven is now and here. It is an attitude that encourages humanity to love and to cooperate with one another.

African clergy finds Christian conservatism helps them maintain a firm grip on the power bequeathed to them by colonial and postcolonial laws. It is this selfish hold on power that disqualifies them from a global leadership that Pope Francis demonstrated. Election of the American, Pope Leo XIV, was a wise collective decision of the College of Cardinals.

Pius Kamau, M.D., a retired general surgeon, is president of the Aurora-based Africa America Higher Education Partnerships; co-founder of the Africa Enterprise Group and an activist for minority students ‘STEM education. He is a National Public Radio commentator, a Huffington Post blogger, a past columnist for Denver dailies and is featured on the podcast, “Never Again.”