Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Fides Service ) – Cardinal Ersilio Tonini, Archbishop emeritus of Ravenna-Cervia, was in close contact with Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, murdered in Burundi on 29 December. More than once the Cardinal visited Burundi where, with “Pro Africa” Association, he sponsored great projects for that country. The Cardinal last spoke on the telephone with the Archbishop only two days ago. This morning, over the telephone to Fides, Cardinal Tonini read part of Mgr Courtney’s last letter. A few words but filled with charity and hope and a revelation of the Nuncio’s spirit: “Thank you for the frequent telephone calls in aid of Africa and especially this poor, martyred country. I share the conviction that the most effective way to help an underdeveloped country to escape from poverty and mere survival is to educate its youth”. Besides being a sign of hope that the young generations can be builders of a different and better society, these words are also an accusation against people who refuse to offer solid cultural tools of knowledge to these peoples, people who always underline the most negative aspects and fail to encourage those signs of hope which promise a change in the situation. The murder of Archbishop Courtney deprives the peace process begun with such difficulty in Burundi of one of its most tenacious promoters: culture is in fact one of the pillars of peace, there can be no peace without culture and no culture without peace. The aim was to eliminate a representative of the Holy See to strike at the cultural process which, once started, would inevitably lead to the building of a peaceful society in which there would be no place for fraud and robbery. (Fides Service 30/12/2003 – lines 21; words 308)
