Benedict XVI addresses European
and African bishops on new evangelization
and bi-continental pastoral collaboration
February 16, 2012
Over seventy bishops representing African and European Episcopal Conferences are attending a Symposium in Rome that focuses on New Evangelization, communion and pastoral collaboration between the two continents.
Participants were received on Thursday morning by Pope Benedict XVI after a Eucharistic concelebration in St. Peter’s Basilica. They wrap up their weeklong program Friday with a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Holy Face of Manoppello.
The Symposium, organized by the European Council of Episcopal Conferences (CCEE) and the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) is the second such event and stems from the need of the African and European bishops to join forces and capabilities to better proclaim the Gospel to the men and women of our day, in all countries and continents.
The Archbishop of Johannesburg, Buti Thlagale, told Vatican Radio that the symposium is an opportunity to strengthen the communion between the Churches of Europe and Africa, to reinforce friendly relations, and to jointly analyze a common pastoral and evangelizing mission.
Archbishop Thlagale says “there was a time when we expected everything to come from Europe. But now we are saying: Africa is an adult... We’ve reached a stage where we can develop a very strong partnership”.
As regards new evangelization, he says, “Africa should be in the position when called upon by Europe to come to Europe’s assistance, in the sense that Europe no longer has as many vocations as it used to have, and if you are going to achieve anything of this new evangelization, you need new missionaries, those missionaries are going to come from Africa or from other parts of the world”.
One of the other focuses on the Symposium, the archbishop said, is the issue of cultural diversity of different nations. He says Africa must be “more in dialogue with Rome on these issues, so we are not advocating uniformity all the time, but we also recognise that catholicity means different spiritualities, different liturgical forms, different devotions": that’s part of its richness…
Here is a translation of the Holy Father's address:
Eminences,
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate
Dear brothers and sisters:
I am happy to welcome you at the end of the Symposium of Bishops from Europe and Africa , and I greet you all with great affection, especially Cardinal Peter Erdo, president of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences, and Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, president of the Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.
I thank them for their kind words when they introduced this meeting of ours. I express my sincere appreciation to all who promtoed these days of study, during which you considered the subject of evangelization today in your respective lands, in the light of reciprocal communion and pastoral collaboration that was established at your first symposium in 2004.
With you I give thanks to God for the spiritual fruits that have come from the relationships of friendship and cooperation among the ecclesial communities of your continents during recent years.
Starting from different cultural, social and economic environments, you have been able to appreciate the common apostolic tension in announcing Jesus Christ and his Gospel to your peoples as an 'exchange of gifts'.
Continue along this fruitful journey of industrious brotherhood and unity of intentions, increasingly widening the horizons for evangelization. For the Church in Europe, in fact, the encounter with the Church in Africa is always a moment of grace because of the hope and joy with which the African ecclesial communities live and communicate the faith, as I could observe during my apostolic visits there. On the other hand, it's beautiful to see how the Church in Africa, although living amid so many difficulties and in need of peace and reconciliation, is so eager to share her faith.
In the relationships between the Church in Africa and the Church in Europe, may all your pastoral attention keep in mind the fundamental link between faith and charity., which illuminate each other in their truth. Charity favors openness and encounter with men today, in their concrete reality, on order to bring Christ and his love to every person and every family, especially those who are most poor and alone.
«Caritas Christi urget nos» (2 Cor 5,14) - The love of Christ urges us. It is indeed the love of Christ that urges us to evangelize. The divine teacher, today as yesterday, sends his disciples through the roads of the world to proclaim his message pf sa;vation to all the peoples of the earth (Apost. Lett. Porta fidei, 7).
The challenges today that you face, dear brothers, are demanding. I am thinking, first of all, of religious indifference which is leading many people to live as if God did not exist, and to be content with some vague religiosity, unable to measure themselves against the question of truth and the duty to be consistent.
Today, especially in Europe, but also some parts of Africa, one can feels the weight of the secularized environment that is often hostile to the Christian faith.
Another challenge to the announcement of the Gospel is hedonism. which has contributed to making the crisis in values penetrate into daily life, in the structure of the family, in the way of interpreting the meaning of life itself.
Also symptomatic of a situation of serious social malaise is the widespread phenomenon of pornography and prostitution. You are well aware of these challenges which provoke your pastoral consciousness and your sense of responsibility.
They should not discourage you, but provide an occasion to renew your commitment and hope - hope that is born from the awareness that the night is advanced, and day is at hand (cfr Rm 13,12), because the risen Christ is always with us.
Not a few good forces are present in the societies of Africa and Europe, many of whom are leaders in the parishes and are distinguished by their commitment to personal sanctification and apostolate. I hope that with your help, they may become living and vital cells for the new evangelization.
let the family be the center of your attentions as Pastors, This domestic church is also the most so9lid guarantee for the renewal of our society. The family, which safeguards practices, traditions, customs, rites that are impregnated with faith, is the ground on which vocations flourish.
Today's consumer mentality can have negative repercussions on the emergence and nurturing of vocations. That is why it is necessary to pay particular attention to the promotion of vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.
The family is also the formative fulcrum for young people. Europe and African both need generous youth who know how to take charge responsibly of their own . Al institutions should bear in mind that the future is in these young people,and that everything must be done so that their road may not be marked by uncertainty and darkness.
Dear friends, follow their human and special growth with special solicitude , encouraging them in initiatives of volunteer work that can have educational value.
In the formation of the new generations, the cultural dimension takes on an important role. You know that the Church esteems and promotes every authentic cultural form, to whom she offers the richness of the Word of God and of the grace that comes from the Paschal mystery of Christ.
The Church respects every discovery of the truth, because all truths come from God, but she also knows that the outlook of a faith focused on Christ opens the heart and mind to the Prime Truth, God. Thus, the culture nourished by faith leads to true humanization, while false cultures end up by leading to dehumanization. We have had sad examples of those in Europe and Africa.
Culture must therefore involve constant concern which should find its place in your pastoral activities, always bearing in mind that the light of the Gospel finds its place in the cultural fabric. elevating it and making its riches bear even more fruit.
Dear friends, your Symposium has offered you an opportunity to reflect on the problems of the Church in the two continents. Certainly, there is no lack of problems, and they are often relevant. On the other hand,, they also constitute proof that the Church is alive, that she is growing, and that she is not afraid to carry out her evangelizing mission.
That is why she needs the prayers and the commitment of all the faithful. Indeed, evangelization is an integral part of the vocation of all who have been baptized, which is a vocation for holiness. Christians who have a living faith and who are open to the action of the Holy Spirit become witnesses to the Gospel of Christ in word and through their lives.
Pastors, however, are entrusted with a special responsibility, Therefore, "your personal holiness must shine for the benefit of those who have been entrusted to your pastoral care and whom you must serve. Your life of prayer will irrigate your apostolate from within. A bishop must be enamored of Christ. The moral authority and authoritativeness that sustain the exercise of your juridical power can only come from the holiness of your own life" (Post-Syn. Apost. Exhort. Africae munus, 100).
I entrust your spiritual propositions and your pastoral plans to the intercession of Mary, Star of Evangelization, as I impart to you from the heart a special Apostolic Blessing, to you, to the episcopal conferences of Africa and Europe, and all your priests and faithful.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 17/02/2012 20:07]