AFRICA - Africa ready to pray for peace in the DRC and in South Sudan

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The Church in all of Africa is mobilized to welcome the appeal launched on February 4 by Pope Francis to dedicate the second Friday of Lent, 2018, February 23, to a day of prayer and fasting for peace in the world and in particular in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in South Sudan.
In the DRC, the Bishops have elaborated a detailed program that provides for the priestly and religious communities, in addition to the prayer of the liturgy of the hours and the Mass of the day, the prayer of the Rosary, the Eucharistic Adoration to be held in all the parishes; the Via Crucis, and finally an ecumenical prayer, leaving the different dioceses to freely organize it on the basis of the relationships maintained with the other Christian confessions in their jurisdiction.
School chaplains are invited to celebrate Mass for peace in the DRC and South Sudan together with pupils and teachers or to recite the rosary together.
In South Sudan, the Bishops have invited everyone to join in prayer communion with Pope Francis. In the capital Juba, the prayer will be held in the cathedral from 4 pm on 23 February. The Archbishop of Juba, His Exc. Mgr. Paulino Lukudu Loro, invited the faithful of other Christian confessions and Muslims to participate in the prayer.
His Exc. Mgr. Erkolano Lodu Tombe, Bishop of Yei, said that in his diocese the spiritual preparation for tomorrow's prayer has already begun. The Bishop hoped that prayers and fasting for peace in his Country and in the DRC will continue even after February 23rd.
Even other African Episcopal Conferences have fully adhered to Pope Francis’ appeal.
The Episcopal Conference of Benin is among these. The Bishops of Benin had expressed, at the end of their Plenary Assembly held from 24 to 26 January, their full "emotional and spiritual closeness to the Catholic Church in the DRC, to the Congolese people assuring their prayers so that God may spread his peace on this nation wounded by so many years of political instability".
In Togo, which is experiencing a situation of strong political tension, in some ways similar to the Congolese, the local Episcopal Conference has invited the faithful to be in communion with the Pope on the occasion of the day of prayer and asked the Togolese to ask God for the conversion of hearts, especially those who have in their hands the fate of the DRC and South Sudan and those who are involved in one way or another in the situation of these Countries. The Episcopal Conference of Togo has asked to pray also for Togo, where a political dialogue has just been launched to try to get the Country out of the crisis.
Also on 19 February the Bishops of the Ivory Coast asked all priests, religious and laity to take the necessary steps to live this day in communion with the universal Church".
In Ghana His Exc. Mgr. Philip Naameh, Archbishop of Tamale and President of the local Episcopal Conference, in welcoming an electoral delegation from the DRC, expressed the solidarity of the Ghanaian Church towards the Congolese, stating that Ghanaian Catholics are praying so that the elections scheduled for December 23rd in the DRC are carried out peacefully.
At the end of their Plenary Assembly on 21 February, the Bishops of Burkina Faso-Niger sent a message of solidarity to the Episcopal Conference of the DRC, for the repression of the demonstrations called by the Catholic laity to demand full compliance with the New Year's Agreements. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 22/2/2018)

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