VATICAN - Benedict XVI in Cameroon (7) - Meeting with the Special Council of the Synod for Africa: “Africa has received a particular vocation to know Christ. Let Africans be proud of this!”

Yaounde (Agenzia Fides) – The final encounter before the Farewell Ceremony in Yaounde was the Holy Father Benedict XVI's meeting with members of the Special Council of the Synod for Africa, on the evening of March 19, at the Apostolic Nunciature. After thanking Archbishop Nikola Eterović, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, the Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops who form a part of the Special Council for Africa “for their expert collaboration in the drawing up of the Lineamenta and the Instumentum Laboris,” the Pope said: “In this way you have emphasized the great dynamism of the Church in Africa, but you have also evoked the challenges which the Synod needs to examine, so that the growth of the Church in Africa will be not only quantitative but qualitative as well.”
At the beginning of his address, Benedict XVI highlighted that “Africa is where the Son of God was weaned, where he was offered effective sanctuary. In Jesus, some two thousand years ago, God himself brought salt and light to Africa. From that time on, the seed of his presence was buried deep within the hearts of this dear continent, and it has blossomed gradually, beyond and within the vicissitudes of its human history. As a result of the coming of Christ who blessed it with his physical presence, Africa has received a particular vocation to know Christ. Let Africans be proud of this!”
The Pope then recalled several significant moments in the Christian history of the Continent: the evangelist St. Mark “bore witness in Africa to the death of the Son of God on the Cross;” the Good News rapidly spread throughout the northern part of the Continent, where it raised up distinguished martyrs and saints, and produced outstanding theologians. “With the arrival of Europeans seeking the passage to the Indies in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the sub-Saharan peoples encountered Christ...In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, sub-Saharan Africa saw the arrival of missionaries, men and women from throughout the West, from Latin America and even from Asia. I wish to pay homage to the generosity of their unconditional response to the Lord’s call, and to their ardent apostolic zeal.”
The Holy Father then reflected on African catechists, “ the inseparable companions of the missionaries in evangelization.” “Laity in the midst of laity, they were able to find in their ancestral languages the words of God which would touch the hearts of their brothers and sisters. They were able to share the savour of the salt of the word and to give splendour to the light of the sacraments which they proclaimed. They accompanied families in their spiritual growth, they encouraged priestly and religious vocations, and they served as a link between their communities and the priests and Bishops. Quite naturally, they brought about a successful inculturation which yielded wondrous fruit...This was a case of Africans evangelizing other Africans.” Among the many Saints from this land, the Pops recalled the martyrs of Uganda, the great missionaries Anne-Marie Javouhey and Daniele Comboni, as well as Sister Anuarite Nengapeta and the catechist Isidore Bakanja, without forgetting the humble Josephine Bakhita.
In this historical moment, which coincides from the civil standpoint with regained independence and from the ecclesial standpoint with the Second Vatican Council, the Church in Africa has accompanied the construction of the new national identities and has also “sought to translate the identity of Christ along its own ways.” While the Hierarchy became increasingly African, theological reflection began to ferment quickly. “It would be well for your theologians today to continue to probe the depth of the Trinitarian mystery and its meaning for everyday African life...The First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops helped to point out the directions to be taken, and it brought out, among other things, the need to appreciate more deeply and to incarnate the mystery of the Church-as-Family.”
Referring to the specific theme of the Second Special Assembly for Africa, in regards to reconciliation, justice, and peace, the Pope highlighted that “to carry out her mission well, the Church must be a community of persons reconciled with God and among themselves.” Africa has continued to be “a theatre of grave tragedies which cry out for true reconciliation between peoples, ethnic groups and individuals...if it is true that in Jesus Christ we belong to the same family and share the same life – since in our veins there flows the Blood of Christ himself, who has made us children of God, members of God’s Family – there must no longer be hatred, injustice and internecine war.”
In addressing the issue of poverty, Benedict XVI said: “The Church, as the Family of God in Africa, made a preferential option for the poor at the First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. In this way she showed that the situation of dehumanization and oppression afflicting the African peoples is not irreversible; on the contrary, she set before everyone a challenge: that of conversion, holiness and integrity.”
Recalling the recent Twelfth General Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, the Pope highlighted that Jesus, the Son of God, the Word made Flesh, “is the foundation of every life. It is therefore on the basis of this Word that we need to enhance African traditions, and to correct and perfect their concept of life, humanity and the family.” Thus, “it is urgent that Christian communities increasingly become places of profound listening to the word of God and meditative reading of sacred Scripture...As for the Eucharist, it makes the Lord truly present in history. Through the reality of his Body and his Blood, the whole Christ makes himself substantially present in our lives...In the Eucharist, it becomes clearly evident that our life is a relationship of communion with God, with our brothers and sisters, and with all creation. The Eucharist is the source of a unity reconciled in peace.”
In concluding his address and prior to reciting a Marian prayer from the Instrumentum Laboris with those present, Benedict XVI made this appeal: “In the power of the Holy Spirit, I appeal to everyone: “Be reconciled to God!” (2 Cor 5:20). No ethnic or cultural difference, no difference of race, sex or religion must become a cause for dispute among you. You are all children of the one God, our Father, who is in heaven. With this conviction, it will then be possible to build a more just and peaceful Africa, an Africa worthy of the legitimate expectations of all its children.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 21/3/2009)