SHOTLIST 1. Pope Benedict XVI kissing baby in his pope-mobile surrounded by cheering crowd, baby is handed back to parents 2. Mid of women singing and dancing 3. Mid of the pope waving from pope-mobile 4. Various wide shots of pope-mobile and cheering crowd in the stadium 5. Pope-mobile making its way through crowd 6. Various of faithful waving and praying towards sun, asking for good weather 7. Sun seen through break in clouds 8. Woman pointing at the sun 9. Tilt down from clouds to wide of stadium 10. Wide of the pope walking towards altar 11. People in congregation taking pictures 12. Pope leaving altar after service 13. Mid of Benedict getting into pope-mobile waving blessings 14. Crowd cheering 15. Mid of Pope waving from pope-mobile as it moves through crowd 16. Wide of crowd in stadium STORYLINE: Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday led tens of thousands of people in a panoply of African tongues during a Mass in Benin's national soccer stadium, wrapping up a pilgrimage where he laid out his spiritual vision for Africa. An estimated 80-thousand people bowed their heads in prayer in the arena in Benin's commercial capital of Cotonou as the pope blessed the crowd. Women who had not made it inside kneeled in the parking lot and prayed. The Mass reflected the potential for harmony in Africa, with the liturgy delivered in at least 10 African languages and simultaneously broadcast in St. Peter's Square. It included an acclamation in Congo's principal language, Lingala, a prayer for peace in Nigeria's Yoruba, followed by other parts of the liturgy in Ditamari, Mina, Bariba, Idaacha, and Lokpa, all languages spoken by Benin's roughly 9 (m) million people. Sunday was the last day of the pope's three-day trip, the second African voyage of his papacy after his 2009 journey to Cameroon and Angola. Benin is emblematic of the growth of Catholicism, with the congregation growing by half, adding over half-a-million (m) new converts in the past decade. Benedict XVI came to Benin on the 150th anniversary of the evangelisation of the country, but the Pope has also some personal memories linked to Benin. During his trip, the Pope visited Cotonou and Ouidah, coastal cities with strong Christian roots, in the south of Benin. The pope's vision of the continent, formally delivered on Sunday to Africa's bishops in the form of an 87-page document known as a treatise, has been called a "papal road map" for Africa. It applies church doctrine to address the continent's ills, especially the wars and conflicts caused by ethnic divisions. The strategy proposes a "sacrament of reconciliation," using the church's doctrine of forgiveness and the Christian concept of turning the other cheek in a bid to stem the cycle of retribution. Nowhere is Catholicism growing more rapidly than on this continent of a thousand tongues which has helped breathe life into a church that has seen a steep decline in numbers of active faithful in Europe. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6892421dd3fe276c4b3baf9c74db6613 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

• published: 30 Jul 2015
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