VATICAN - The Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops - file

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - "Hasn’t the time come, as many African pastors urge, to deepen this African Synodal experience? The exceptional growth of the Church in Africa, the rapid turnover of Pastors, the new challenges facing the Continent require answers that only the continuation of the effort required by the implementation of Ecclesia in Africa could offer, so restoring a renewed vigor and strengthened hope to this continent in distress". This is how the Holy Father John Paul II expressed himself on June 15, 2004 addressing the participants at the twelfth meeting of the Post-Synodal Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops for the Special Assembly for Africa, thus starting the path towards the Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa. Participants at the Symposium of Bishops of Africa and Europe, received in audience on 13 November 2004, the Pope expressly confirmed: "welcoming the votes of the Post-Synodal Council, expression of the hopes of African Pastors, I take this opportunity to announce my intention to convoke a Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops". The desire of Pope John Paul II was shared by his successor, Benedict XVI, who during the general audience on 22 June 2005 said: "Confirming what my venerable Predecessor had decided on November 13 last year, I wish to announce my intention to convene the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops. I have great confidence that the Meeting marks a further impetus to evangelization in Africa, the consolidation and growth of the Church and the promotion of reconciliation and peace".
On 27 June 2006 the Lineamenta for the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops were published on the theme: "The Church in Africa in the Service of reconciliation, justice and peace. 'You are the salt of the earth ... You are the light of the world '(Mt 5, 13.14)", which should have faced the major themes of reconciliation, justice and peace in the global context of the evangelization of the African continent.
During his first apostolic visit to Africa, on March 19, 2007 the Holy Father Benedict XVI presided the Mass in the Amadou Ahidjo stadium in Yaounde, Cameroon, on the occasion of the publication of Laboris of the Second Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for Africa. Delivering a copy of the Instrumentum to the Presidents of the national and regional Episcopal Conferences of Africa, Benedict XVI said: "It reflects the great dynamism of the Church in Africa, but also the challenges which must be faced and that the Synod will have to examine". On 28 June 2007, the Holy See’s Press Office announced that the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops should have been held at the Vatican from 4 to 25 October 2009.
Benedict XVI opened the Synod Assembly with a Mass presided at the Vatican Basilica on Sunday, October 4, 2009. Recalling the first Special Assembly for Africa, the Pope underlined: "The fact that today we are here to inaugurate the second, means that indeed that was a historical event, but not isolated. It was the culmination of a journey, which has since continued, and now comes a new significant stage of verification and revival".
During the Synod His Exc. Mgr. Francois Xavier Maroy Rusengo, Archbishop of Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo) was forced to leave the Vatican to return back home due to the outbreak of serious riots, parishes were burnt and priests taken hostage .
"Courage, rise! Rise, Church in Africa, God's family. Undertake the path of a new evangelization with the courage that comes from the Holy Spirit. Courage! Get up, African Continent. Welcome with renewed enthusiasm the proclamation of the Gospel so that the face of Christ might illuminate with its splendor the multiplicity of cultures and languages of your people". This is the exhortation pronounced by Benedict XVI at St. Peter on Sunday, October 25, 2009, during the Mass at the conclusion of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 16/11/2011)