AFRICA/BENIN - "It is a serious mistake to think that the missionary work of the Church is over": 160 years of evangelization celebrated

Ouidah (Agenzia Fides) - "Our Church today commemorates a double event: the Church that welcomed the missionaries of the Society of African Missions (SMA) one hundred and sixty years ago and the memory, which dates back exactly ten years ago, of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, who came to celebrate 150 years of evangelization in Ouidah in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception" (see Fides, 13/5/2011), writes to Fides Father Brice Ulrich Afferi, Ivorian, at the head of the SMA Communications Office.
"On that occasion, with the publication of the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Africae Munus, on the Church at the service of reconciliation, justice and peace, the Pope Emeritus offered us a 'road map'.
The celebrations started on April 17, 2021 and ended on November 20, 2021 before a crowd of Christians and civil authorities. On this occasion, a building with a reception house and conference rooms was inaugurated, in memory of the first missionaries: Fr. Francesco Borghero, an Italian from the Diocese of Genoa, the first Italian missionary of the SMA, and founder of the churches of Benin and Nigeria, and Fr. Francisco Fernandez, Spanish, who landed in Ouidah on April 18, 1861. "Among the initiatives carried out, on November 18 and 19 2021 researchers and theologians gathered to reflect together on the current state of the Good News received 160 years ago and for a re-reading and analysis of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation in the face of today's limitations and realities. The proceedings are still in preparation for a forthcoming publication", the missionary said. This is just another step in the history of the Church of Benin, underlined Fr. Désiré Salako, Superior of the SMA Benin-Niger Province. "It would be a serious mistake to think that the missionary work of the Church has ended - he added. The mission is not over. You must enter new worlds to discover. The Word of God must bind us and, as Apostles of Jesus, we cannot stop speaking and telling the world that Jesus lived, died and rose again and that we are his witnesses". (BUA/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 2/12/2021)

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