AFRICA/BENIN - "Too much alcohol among young people" denounce the Bishops

Wednesday, 15 January 2020 extraordinary missionary month   bishops   youth  

Cotonou (Agenzia Fides) - "The Bishops’ Conference of Benin is concerned about the excessive consumption of alcohol by a large segment of the youth in our Country" said His Exc. Mgr. Eugène Cyrille Houndékon, Bishop of Abomey and Vice President of the Bishops’ Conference of Benin, in the press conference announced at the end of the Plenary Assembly of Bishops held from 7 to 10 January". "By doing this only to please one's friends or to satisfy an ephemeral pleasure, many young people are destroying their health and compromising their future", underlined Archbishop Houndékon.
"The Bishops of Benin invite parents, religious leaders, chaplains, youth movements and educators at various levels to sensitize young people to the various dangers associated with excessive alcohol consumption", reads the final statement published at the end of the assembly.
In the statement, sent to Agenzia Fides, the Bishops recall "the various pastoral initiatives that animated the Extraordinary Missionary Month of October 2019 in the dioceses", and sincerely hope that the missionary momentum continues to animate the daily life of all the baptized".
The Bishops invite all citizens and in particular Catholics to a thanksgiving Mass on 28 February to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the "living forces of the nation" conference, which marked the peaceful transition, without bloodshed, from dictatorship to democracy .
The Bishops report of having met President Patrice Talon during the meeting, to whom they expressed their encouragement for the progress made in improving the country's infrastructure, but also expressed concern about the situation of the middle class hit hard by the economic reforms adopted recently and from the closure of the borders between Benin and Nigeria. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides, 15/1/2020)


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