VATICAN - “Africa: a extraordinary resource of good for humanity” says Cardinal Martino at the end of a Conference on Africa and globalisation promoted by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace

Saturday, 22 May 2004

Vatican City (Fides Service)- “The many seedbeds of violence in Africa, AIDS and other pandemics, tragedies like poverty and injustices still weigh on the future of the continent producing negative effects which prevent development of Africa and the installing of lasting peace and a just and fair society”. This was the sad picture drawn by Pope John Paul II in a message to the numerous participants (about 100 ambassadors, cardinals and bishops, mostly African, experts and representatives of international institutions) at the Day of Study: “Economic and social development in Africa in the era of globalisation”, organised in the Vatican by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on 21 May 2004.
“The continent - the Pope said - has urgent need of peace, justice and reconciliation and the help of industrialised countries called to sustain its development so that the peoples of Africa can truly be agents of their future, actors and subjects of their destiny”. The Pope expressed the wish “that the international community will contribute with determination and generosity to promote a society of justice and peace on the continent of Africa”. The Pope called on Catholics the world over to show effective solidarity for Africa.
Underlining the need for adequate responses particularly to three fundamental problems, armed conflict, endemic disease and poverty in his address to the participants Cardinal Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said that Africa must be considered not as “an unbearable burden, a problem which cannot be solved, but as an extraordinary resource for the good of all humanity”. “The greatest evil afflicting Africa - he said - is the almost general sense of resignation and discouragement which circles this continent with an iron curtain of egoism and indifference. The real challenge is to build an environment of renewed trust and generous and intelligent creativity”.
Another speaker was the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Lajolo, who said that since 11 September 2001 living conditions in many countries in Africa have become steadily worse and “the Western world must realise that unless the path of authentic development is taken, excluded peoples will end up believing that they have no alternative but terrorism”. Indicating nevertheless various positive signs in African society the Archbishop added “Africa is not a continent of people without hope, it is populated with persons working to overcome problems, old and new, in order to build a future of hope and opportunities”.
Drawing the conclusions at the end of the Conference Cardinal Martino said it was clear that Africa is a challenge for its own peoples, its political leaders, and religious confessions and the Catholic Church on the continent. But it is also a challenge for the international community, which must help Africa change from being the object of assistance to becoming a convinced and determined subject of partnership. He also announced up-coming initiatives of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace including a statement on poverty in the era of globalisation dealing with many of the themes that emerged at the Conference; the institution of a Standing Group to reflect on matters concerning Africa’s social and economic development; the drafting of a Declaration on the findings of this present Conference to send to people most responsible for finding credible solutions to the problems facing Africa today. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 22/5/2004, righe 49 parole 611)


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