Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Yamoussoukro (Agenzia Fides) – The Apostolic Nuncio in Ivory Coast, Archbishop Ambrose Madtha, Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, Ms. Therese Marie-Therese Houphouet-Boigny (widow of the first President of Ivory Coast), and Archbishop Paul-Simeon Ahouanan-Djro, OFM, President of the International Foundation “Notre Dame de la Paix,” all signed their names for the opening of construction work on the future Saint Giuseppe Moscati Hospital in Yamoussoukro (the country's capital). The hospital will be built near the Basilica “Notre Dame de la Paix.”
The ceremony took place on August 23, following the ordination of three Bishops (see Fides 31/8/2009), and was attended by the nation's bishops, many priests and sisters, country and city authorities, and family members of the deceased President Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Before the opening prayer, the Pontifical Representative asked all to take a moment of silence to honor the memory of Servant of God Pope John Paul II, who in 1992, along with President Houphouet-Boigny, drew up the plans for the construction of the hospital. In his address, the Nuncio stressed the missionary character of the Church and its special charitable quality, as the Holy Father Benedict XVI highlighted in the encyclical “Deus Caritas est.” After having expressed his gratitude to the deceased President and his family for their generous donation that has helped the project become a reality, Archbishop Madtha expressed his great gratitude as well to the Vice-Province of the Camillian Fathers, which has undertaken the management of the hospital.
Cardinal Bernard Agre, Archbishop Emeritus of Abidjan, presided the blessing ceremony. The hospital has 100 beds, in addition to the residence for the Camillian Fathers and the Daughters of Saint Camillus. The health center plans to be up and running by the end of 2011. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 1/9/2009)
