Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lilongwe (Agenzia Fides) – On July 18, the Church in Malawi celebrated a great ceremony at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, in honor of 4 events: the 50th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Blantyre; the 20th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's visit to Malawi; the conclusion of the Pauline Year; the priestly ordination of 3 deacons, 2 diocesan and one from the Monfortian Missionary Order.
“In spite of the cold (winter in the southern hemisphere), the stadium was almost as full as the day of John Paul II's visit. The celebration, which began shortly after 9am, ended at 4:30 pm,” Agenzia Fides was informed by Fr. Piergiorgio Gamba, Monfortian Missionary who has been working in Malawi for many years.
The country's 8 bishops and the Apostolic Nuncio of Zambia and Malawi, Archbishop Nicola Girasoli, were all present. “The Nuncio lives in Lusaka, in Zambia, but he is increasingly more present in Malawi, to spur us on the path of fidelity to the Gospel,” Fr. Gamba says.
He recalled the significance of Pope John Paul II's visit to the country in May 1989. “The Pope made a trip to Africa, to Madagascar and Zambia, as well as Malawi,” Fr. Gamba recalls. “Twenty years in Africa is more than a generation, and the memory of that visit is deeply impressed in our memory, making it an historical moment. They were the years of dictatorship and great silence. The presence of John Paul II made the people realize their own social responsibilities in a very numerous, but silent, Christian community. They were very present in the social field, but unable to turn the social teachings of the Gospel into life. The Bishops in particular were also taken up by this wind of the Spirit and in 1992 lifted their voices in defense of the least important in society, in that Pastoral Letter issued at the beginning of Lent, which became the Pastoral Letter most read by the people of Malawi, entitled: “Living our Faith.” It was the end of the dictatorship and the peaceful passage to democracy.”
“What is left from that visit?” the missionary asks. “The reconquest of the dignity of being Christian, the living out of the Gospel readings, the awareness that even situations of oppression can be changed...”
“It is a message that is important to maintain alive in these present years, years in which Africa is also having to face the encounter with “modernity” that does not reject the Christian faith, but places it aside and turns it into superstitions that have obsessive aspects that are worse than dictatorship,” Fr. Gamba concluded. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 23/7/2009)
