Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – This past month of November, the Special Council for Africa, of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, in preparation for the upcoming second Synod for this continent, met in the Vatican. One of the main conclusions was that: “peace, the supreme good of all peoples, is particularly urgent at this time on the African Continent still marked by many conflicts.”
The Church's presence in Africa, especially in the North, dates back to the Apostolic Era. Numerous figures that today shine among the Saints, doctors, and martyrs, are sons and daughters of this fertile land. Names like Saint Cyprian, Origen, Tertullian, Saint Cyril of Alexandria, and the great Saint Augustine, are all tied to this continent full of hope.
Unfortunately, the numerous conflicts it has suffered in its recent history make preaching the Gospel in Africa difficult. The consequences of fighting and the genocide committed among the people, the tendency to hate, to revenge, and violence, are more clearly present today than in other times. Many people have suffered and continue to suffer from poverty, consequences of the war and abuse of power. John Paul II once said: “In Africa, this demand for application of the Gospel to real life is strongly needed. How could we peach Christ in that immense Continent, while forgetting that it is also the poorest area of the world? How could we not take into account the history, marked by suffering, in a land where many nations still fight against hunger, war, racial and tribal conflicts, political instability, and the violation of human rights? All this is a challenge to evangelization.” (Angelus, March 20, 1994)
In the midst of this situation, the Church of Christ is called to use the wisdom of the Gospel to heal, pacify, and invigorate the hearts of the people of Africa. The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of “Ecclesia in Africa,” number 57 affirms: “To Africa, which is menaced on all sides by outbreaks of hatred and violence, by conflicts and wars, evangelizers must proclaim the hope of life rooted in the Paschal Mystery. It was precisely when, humanly speaking, Jesus life seemed doomed to failure that he instituted the Eucharist, 'the pledge of eternal glory,' in order to perpetuate in time and space his victory over death. That is why at a time when the African Continent is in some ways in a critical situation the Special Assembly for Africa wished to be 'the Synod of Resurrection, the Synod of Hope...Christ our Hope is alive; we shall live!' Africa is not destined for death, but for life!”
The evangelization should involve man and society in all aspects of their existence. However, in speaking of Africa, we must recall that many of its problems are called by abuses coming from the current economic powers. The exploitation of resources and persons leads to widespread poverty that causes social instability and continual conflict. With all his strength and clarity, Pope Benedict XVI, in his Message for the World Day of Peace on January 1, 2009, insisted on the need to fight poverty to build peace. The disparity between the rich and poor has become so evident that it is a call on the conscience of all humanity. The conditions in which some people live are contrary to their innate dignity as human beings. “Yet the reference to globalization should also alert us to the spiritual and moral implications of the question, urging us, in our dealings with the poor, to set out from the clear recognition that we all share in a single divine plan: we are called to form one family in which all – individuals, peoples, and nations – model their behavior according to the principles of fraternity and responsibility.” (Benedict XVI, Message for the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2009, 2)
Oftentimes, poverty is related to demographic growth. “There are international campaigns afoot to reduce birth-rates, sometimes using methods that respect neither the dignity of the woman, nor the right of parents to choose responsibly how many children to have; graver still, these methods often fail to respect even the right to life. The extermination of millions of unborn children, in the name of the fight against poverty, actually constitutes the destruction of the poorest of all human beings.” (Benedict XVI, ibid, 3)
Another factor in poverty, the Pope said, is the spread of diseases such as AIDS, poverty among children, and the relationship between disarmament and development. All these realities, which are very strongly present on the continent of Africa, are causes for poverty and, therefore, occasions for social instability.
Thus, it is necessary that the Catholics of more developed nations recognize their moral obligation to support the material progress of their less-fortunate brothers, as well as in terms of preaching the Gospel. “Integral human development – the development of every person and of the whole person, especially of the poorest and most neglected in the community – is at the very heart of evangelization.” (Ecclesia in Africa, 68).
Announcing Christ means showing man his inalienable dignity of being called to communion with God, of having been saved through the Incarnation of the Word, in order to participate in divine nature.
Accepting the concrete reality of Africa, with its needs and potentials, the Church should announce the Good News with word and deed, to open people's hearts to the quest for holiness. This holiness fills people's lives and fills society through inculturation. “Just as in the Incarnation Christ assumed human nature in everything but sin, analogously through inculturation the Christian message assimilates the values of the society to which it is proclaimed, rejecting whatever is marked by sin.” (Ecclesiae in Africa, 87). (Agenzia Fides 30/1/2009)
