Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Maputo (Agenzia Fides)- A proposed bill on abortion; the challenges of Mozambican society today; the government programme to fight poverty; criminality, were some of the issues examined by the Catholic Bishops of Mozambique gathered for their first plenary assembly of 2007, in Maputo in mid April. A report on the event was sent to Fides.
The assembly was preceded by a three day spiritual retreat from 16 to 18 April directed by Bishop Wilson Tadeu Jönck, auxiliary Bishop of Rio de Janeiro archdiocese in Brazil.
With regard to abortion the Bishops drafted a special statement, to which Fides will refer in the coming days, and in the meantime they stated “abortion is a serious sin, a crime against life in Mozambique. It is an act contrary to this nation which has a vast territory and immensely rich resources to develop through population growth for the common good”.
The Bishops are in favour of the government's commitment to eradicate “the dire poverty which holds the greater part of our people in the grip of hardship and ignorance. We must support the national initiative to overcome poverty and the degradation of the dignity of the human person”. However the Bishops recall that “growth at the economic level must correspond to a growth at the moral and intellectual. It is not with crime that the living conditions of our people can be improved, but instead with human, intellectual and moral formation ”.
The reference to crime derives from the fact that the Bishops denounce “a wave of violence and crime”, but they say “Mozambican society is not violent by nature, our people are peace-loving, hospitable, ready for dialogue”. In this situation the leaders of the local Catholic Church affirm that the state has the duty to intervene to guarantee security for all citizens and public order, and they reaffirm that Catholics are ready to co-operate in the field of education to promote respect for individual persons and goods, to disapprove and denounce crime, violence, desire for revenge and taking justice in one's own hands.
The Bishops also announced that from 19 to 26 May they will make their five yearly visit ad limina to Rome to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul and to meet with the Successor of St Peter, the Pope, to inform him of the joys and troubles of their local Churches and ask for his guidance and blessing. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 9/5/2007 righe 34 parole 405)
