AFRICA/TOGO - The safety of priests: a great challenge for the African Church

Kara (Agenzia Fides) - "Is the African continent becoming hostile to priests? The number of kidnappings and murders against the religious continues to grow disproportionately, disturbing the commitment of many pastoral workers": Fr. Donald Zagore, an SMA missionary, tells Fides about the sad affair involving his confrere, father Luigi Maccalli kidnapped in Niger (see Fides 18/9/2018).
"The continuous kidnapping in African land, especially in the western part of the Country, should not be ignored by public opinion. The great mobilization of the whole family of God in Africa, religious and laity, must further push our political leaders, guarantors of the security of the population, to assume their responsibilities. Until this happens, every type of initiative will seem superfluous and non-existent ", the theologian notes.
"In moments of great suffering like these - he continues - the whole Church, God's family, must enter into play in Africa. Nobody excluded. Aware of the fact that we are facing a very dangerous, delicate and complex phenomenon for the African Church, the security of priests remains a great challenge today. When a family member suffers, the whole family suffers. It is more than ever essential to break the silence to make one's voice heard where it is needed".
According to Fr. Zagore, "the problem of the security of priests on the African continent must be one of the fundamental topics of the next great regional and continental meetings of the Church in Africa. It is necessary to face this problem to find appropriate solutions for the protection of pastoral agents". (DZ/AP) (Agenzia Fides, 28/9/2018)

Share:

priests

---

---

missionaries

---

---

violence

---

---

kidnapping

---

---