Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Luanda (Agenzia Fides)- “During Cardinal Ivan Dias' visit to Angola the Angolan people's love for the Church and the Pope was very evident” said a local Church source with regard to the recent visit made by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples (see Fides 9 July 16 and 24 July 2007). “It was a purely pastoral visit ”- the source told Fides- the Cardinal Prefect visited seven dioceses, Luanda, Cabinda, Uije, Huambo, Benguela, Lubango, Malanje and everywhere he went he was welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm in churches filled to capacity”.
Cardinal Dias had meetings with the pastoral agents: priests, missionaries, seminarians and catechists. He thanked them all for their hard work and encouraged them to accept with faith and adequate preparation the present challenges to evangelisation: national reconciliation after thirty long years of civil war, rebuild missions destroyed by war, penetration into territories yet to be reached by the Gospel, the spread of new religious sects.
Particularly significant was the Cardinal's meeting with the Bishops of CEAST. “An experience of brotherhood and exchange of ideas on pastoral care in Angola” the source told Fides.
The high point of the visit was a solemn Mass on Sunday 22 July concelebrated by almost 100 bishops of the Inter-regional Association of Bishops of Southern Africa IMBISA with the participation an estimated 10,000 people. The Mass was celebrated to open the IMBISA Assembly and even more important for the ordination of the first Bishop of the newly created diocese of Caxito. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 25/7/2007 righe 25 parole 287)
