In Nigeria, Archbishop Matthew Ndagosa of Kaduna, looks out on a horizon that would dazzle his Western counterparts. "The churches are full. Young people go to church. And we have the world's largest seminary, in Enugu," he says, adding that the doctrines that cause Catholicism problems in the rich world strengthen its appeal in countries like Nigeria. "In our tradition, morals are very strong. The strong rulings – on abortion, condoms, homosexuality, etcetera – in the Catholic church are a natural match."
Africa's experience highlights several points that are at risk of being obscured in the controversy surrounding Pope Benedict's visit to an increasingly secular Britain. One is that, while Western Europeans may be abandoning religion, the rest of the globe is not. Muslims are not exactly turning away from Allah. The United States remains deeply religious. Millions of people in formerly communist Eastern Europe have re-embraced Orthodox Christianity. And in many parts of Asia, an emergent middle class is finding in organised religion a spiritual counterweight for its new-found wealth (and perhaps too a badge of social respectability).
According to the World Christian Database, the proportion of the planet's population professing one or other of its four biggest faiths (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism) rose steeply in the mid-1970s and has been climbing rapidly ever since. By 2005, the figure was 73%.