AFRICA/MADAGASCAR - Bishops’s message: "Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance"

Monday, 22 May 2017

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Antananarivo (Agenzia Fides) - Faced with the worsening of the Country's conditions in various areas, the Bishops' Conference of Madagascar has recently published a message to all the baptized and people of good will, recalling the verse of the Gospel of Luke: "Produce good fruits as evidence of your repentance" (Lk 3: 8). The letter, sent to Fides, begins with the firm condemnation of the atrocities that took place in various places in Madagascar such as Antsakabary, Antsirabe, Antsohihy. The Bishops demand true repentance, so that a real change is effective. They therefore invoke repentance in order to be a model of patriotism like Ramose Lucien Botovasoa, a Franciscan tertiary layman who was killed in Vihipeno (Madagascar) in hatred for the faith on April 17, 1947, for whom Pope Francis last May 4 promulgated the decree on martyrdom. Defined as a martyr of faith and charity, he was a converted, incorruptible man who witnessed truth and reconciliation, who gave his life for the nation, saying, "may the blood I shed serve for the protection of my country".
In their message, the Bishops call upon ecclesiastical authorities to question themselves to combat the weaknesses that are the subject of scandal, interrogate those responsible for public life in particular in the following areas: health, education and teaching, public security and national defense. The Bishops also recall the duties of each for a real change. Finally, they invite all to pray, announcing a novena starting from Ascension until Saturday before Pentecost. (AR/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 22/5/2017)

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