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Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – With the liturgical greeting “Pax vobis” the Holy Father Benedict XVI addressed the Synod Fathers and Collaborators of the II Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa during the Mass presided in the Vatican Basilica on October 4. Recalling the April 10, 1994 opening of the First Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa, Benedict XVI highlighted: “The fact that today we find ourselves here to inaugurate the second, signifies that the first was indeed a historical event, but not an isolated one. It was the point of arrival on a path, that was pursued later on, and that now reaches a new significant stage of verification and impulse.”
Commenting on the Biblical readings for Sunday, which speak of marriage, and as the Pope pointed out “more radically, speak of the design of creation, of the source and, therefore, of God,” and he noted “the Primacy of God the Creator springs forth in a very evident manner, with the eternal validity of his original imprint and the absolute precedence of his lordship,” the Holy Father observed that “the acknowledgment of the absolute Lordship of God is one of the salient and unifying features of the African culture. The many and diverse cultures present in Africa “all seem to be in agreement on this point: God is the Creator and the source of life. Now life - as we well know - manifests itself primarily in the union between the man and the woman and in the birth of children; divine law, written in nature, and thereby stronger and prominent with respect to any human law.”
Benedict XVI then highlighted three aspects from the Liturgy of the Word that are specifically relevant to the Synodal Fathers: the primacy of God, Creator and Lord, matrimony, and children. “As to the first aspect Africa is the repository of an inestimable treasure for the whole world: its deep sense of God,” the Pope said, mentioning the spiritual and cultural heirlooms of the continent as “an enormous spiritual 'lung' for a humanity that appears to be in a crisis of faith and hope.” Threatening the “health of this lung are practical materialism, combined with relativist and nihilist thinking spread by the Western World (“the so-called 'First' World has exported up to now and continues to export its spiritual toxic waste that contaminates the peoples of other continents, in particular those of Africa. In this sense, colonialism which is over at a political level, has never really entirely come to an end.”) and “religious fundamentalism, mixed together with political and economic interests.”
As for the subject of marriage, the Pope recalled that “married life between a man and a woman, and therefore of the family that springs from that, is inscribed into the communion with God and, in the light of the New Testament, becomes the symbol of Trinitarian love and the sacrament of the union of Christ with the Church. To the extent to which it looks after and develops its faith, Africa could discover immense resources to give in favor of the family that is built on matrimony.”
Childhood “constitutes a large and, unfortunately, suffering part of the African population,” Benedict XVI said, recalling the Gospel passage in which Jesus welcomes the children, opposing the disciples who wanted to take them away from Him, “we see the image of the Church that, in Africa, and in every other part of the planet, demonstrates her maternal concern especially for the littlest, even before they are born.”
In the homily, the Pope once again reflected on the present Synod as a continuation of the previous Synod that was dedicated to the continent of Africa, the fruits of which are present in the Apostolic Exhortation “Ecclesia in Africa.” Pope Benedict said: “Naturally, the primary task of evangelization remains valid and actual, or rather a new evangelization that bears in mind the rapid social changes of our era and the phenomenon of world globalization. The same can be said for the pastoral choice of edifying the Church as the Family of God.” After recalling the great dynamism of the Catholic Church in Africa in recent years, the Holy Father noted “the growth of the ecclesial community in all areas also bears ad intra and ad extra challenges, the Synod is the propitious moment to rethink pastoral activity and renew the impulse of evangelization.” He then advised all to “aim at the 'high measure' of Christian life, that is to say holiness. All the Shepherds and all the members of the ecclesial community are called to saintliness, the lay faithful are called to spread the perfume of the holiness in the family, in workplaces, in schools and in every other social and political field. May the Church in Africa always be a family of true disciples of Christ, where the difference between the different ethnic groups becomes a reason and a stimulus for mutual human and spiritual enrichment.”
In closing, Benedict XVI mentioned the great contribution that the Church can make to Africa and the entire society through her work of evangelization and human promotion, in that her vocation “is that of being the prophesy and leaven of reconciliation among the various ethnic, linguistic and even religious groups, within each individual nation and throughout the continent. Reconciliation, a gift of God that men must implore and embrace, is the stable foundation upon which one builds peace, the necessary condition for the true progress of men and society, according to the project of justice wanted by God.”
At the close of the homily, the Holy Father invited everyone to pray for the sessions of the Synodal Assembly, in cloistered monasteries and the religious communities in Africa as well as all over the world, parishes and movements, sick and suffering: “I ask all to pray that the Lord may make this Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops fruitful.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 5/10/2009)
