Pope calls on African laity
to be committed to realizing
the 'continent of hope'
September 5, 2012
Pope Benedict XVI has sent a message to participants at the Pan-African Congress for the Laity taking place in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
The six-day meeting, under the auspices of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, is intended to be "an event of hope in the evangelising mission and to help rediscover the beauty of being Christians in the African Continent". Linda Bordoni has this report:
Africa is close to the heart of Benedict XVI. He has visited the continent twice (Cameroon and Angola in March 2009, and Benin in November 2011), called for a second special assembly for Africa by the Synod of Bishops, which he formally summarized for the Church in the post-synodal apostolic exhortation
Africae Munus.
In his message to the 300 participants of the Yaoundé Congress, the Pope stressed how the Church looks to Africa as the “Continent of Hope” with its wealth of spiritual resources which are part of traditional African Values.
“The love for life and for the family, a sense of joy and sharing, the enthusiasm of living the faith, all values that I have seen during my travels in Africa, and that are still etched in my heart, " he said, calling on Africans to "Never let the dark and nihilistic relativist mentality that affects various parts of the world, open a breach in your reality".
The delegates represent lay associations, ecclesial Movements and new communities.