The church in Africa

The Vatican has now gone on the offensive by, partly, blaming the media for the growing scandal over sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.

Yesterday, Pope Benedict himself faced newspapers' accusations that, as a cardinal in the 1990s, he failed to take adequate actions against Father Lawrence Murphy, an American priest suspected of molesting dozens of deaf children.

The Vatican newspaper, the Osservatore Romano described media accusations about the Pope as "an ignoble attempt to smear" him.

Africa boasts more than 13 percent of the world's Catholics and to find out how the controversy is affecting the Church in Africa Focus on Africa's Sophie Ikenye spoke to Father Joseph Akonga, the secretary general of Cameroon's Episcopal Conference.