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SUMMARY OF SYNOD OF BISHOPS: 24 - 25 OCTOBER
- Final General Congregation of Synod
- The Synod Presents 57 Propositions to the Holy Father
(The faces of power in the African Church- Bishops and their Mighty Mitres)
- Church in Africa : Arise!
- Angelus: Recollection of Synod and Praise for Don Gnocchi
OTHER NEWS: 24 - 26 OCTOBER
- Other Pontifical Acts
- Pontifical Biblical Institute Celebrates 100 Years
- Meeting between "Ecclesia Dei" and Society of St. Pius X
- Audiences
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FINAL GENERAL CONGREGATION OF SYNOD
VATICAN CITY, 24 OCT 2009 (VIS) - During the twentieth and final General Congregation of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, held this morning in the Synod Hall, the relator general, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, continued reading out the final list of propositions which he had begun during the session of yesterday afternoon. Subsequently the final vote on the propositions took place, using the procedure "placet" or "non placet". The president delegate on duty was Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr, archbishop of Dakar , Senegal .
At 1 p.m. the participants in the Synod attended a luncheon with the Holy Father in the atrium of the Vatican 's Paul VI Hall.
Cardinal Sarr pronounced some words thanking the Pope for the "paternal concern, respect and diligence he had shown towards Africa and its peoples, the Churches of the continent and all their members" since the beginning of the Synod.
At the end of lunch the Pope addressed those present, expressing his satisfaction for the progress made by the Synod, the theme of which - reconciliation, justice and peace - "was not", he said, "an easy challenge".
"The subject matter", he went on, "clearly had strong political implications, even though it is obvious that reconciliation, justice and peace are not possible without a profound purification of the heart, without a renewal of the mind, a 'metanoia', without the newness that arises from the meeting with God.
"Yet even if this spiritual dimension is profound and fundamental", the Pope added, "the political dimension is also very real because without political achievements the novelties of the Spirit are not normally realised".
Hence the temptation could have been to politicise the theme, to speak less as pastors and more as politicians, and thus in a sphere which is not our own".
Benedict XVI went on: "The other danger was that, precisely in order to escape this temptation, we should retreat into a purely spiritual world, an abstract, beautiful but unrealistic world. Yet a pastor's words must be realistic, they must touch reality but within the perspective of God and of His Word.
"Maintaining this equilibrium means, on the one hand, remaining true to reality, careful to speak about what is really there and, on the other, not falling into purely political solutions. This means using words that are concrete but spiritual.
"This", the Pope concluded, "was the great problem facing the Synod, and it seems to me that, thanks to God, we managed to resolve it. For me this is another cause to give thanks because it facilitates the preparation of the post-Synodal document".
Before concluding his remarks, the Pope announced that he had decided to appoint Cardinal Turkson as the new president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in which role he succeeds Cardinal Renato Martino.
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THE SYNOD PRESENTS 57 PROPOSITIONS TO THE HOLY FATHER
VATICAN CITY, 24 OCT 2009 (VIS) - The working sessions of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops concluded this morning with the approval of the fifty-seven propositions which the Synod Fathers have presented to Benedict XVI.
By order of the Pope, a provisional and unofficial version of the propositions has been made public by the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops. This is the third time that Benedict XVI has allowed the publication of the closing propositions of a Synodal assembly. Normally the propositions are given privately to the Pope for him to consider while preparing the Apostolic Exhortation, the official closing document of a Synod.
The first proposition aims at fomenting greater ecclesial communion at all levels, encouraging co-operation within the Church. The Synod Fathers wish to stimulate existing structures of ecclesial communion, at the same time promoting others such as, for example, the establishment of continent-wide councils for the clergy, the laity and Catholic women.
The prelates launch a "heartfelt appeal to all those who are at war in Africa and make their people suffer so much: 'Stop the hostilities and be reconciled!'" They likewise invite the international community "to give strong support to the struggle against all the manoeuvres which destabilise the African continent".
In proposition 20 the Synod Fathers affirm as "unacceptable" article 14 of the Maputo Protocol. The article concerns the reproductive rights of women, "authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus". Yet, they say, this is "in contradiction with human rights and the right to life. It trivialises the seriousness of the crime of abortion and devalues the role of childbearing".
On the subject of the environment - another recurring theme of the Synod - the Synod Fathers note "an irresponsible degradation and senseless destruction of the earth, which is 'our mother'. In complicity with those who exercise political and economic leadership in Africa , some businesses, governments and multinational and trans-national companies engage in business that pollute the environment, destroy flora and fauna, thus causing unprecedented erosion and desertification of large areas of arable land".
The bishops also express their concern for "fifteen million migrants who are looking for a homeland and a place of peace. ... The principle of the universal destination of created goods and the Church's teachings on human rights, freedom of movement and the rights of migrant workers are increasingly violated by the world's restrictive migration policies and laws against Africans", they say.
In another of their propositions the Synod Fathers call for the defence of the family and of human life, which is facing the threat of "abortion, the devaluation of maternity (child-bearing), the distortion of the notion of marriage and the family itself, the ideology of divorce and a new relativist ethic".
On the subject of women in Africa , the prelates "condemn all acts of violence against women, such as the battering of wives, the disinheritance of daughters, the oppression of widows in the name of tradition, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, trafficking in women and several other abuses such as sex slavery and sex tourism. All other inhumane and unjust acts against women are equally condemned".
In another of the propositions, they describe HIV/AIDS as "a pandemic, together with malaria and tuberculosis, which is decimating African populations and severely damaging their economic and social life". AIDS sufferers in Africa "are victims of injustice, because they often do not receive the same quality of treatment as in other places. The Church asks ... that African patients receive the same quality of treatment as in Europe ". The Synod Fathers also call for "pastoral support which helps couples living with an affected spouse to inform and form their consciences, so that they might choose what is right, with full responsibility for the greater good of each other, their union and their family".
"This Synod", reads another proposition, "calls for the total and universal abolition of the death penalty".
Finally the Synod Fathers underline the importance of "the professional training and ethical formation of journalists to promote a culture of dialogue which avoids division, sensationalism, disinformation and the offensive trivialisation of human suffering, all of which could harm the harmony and peace of societies and communities".
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CHURCH IN AFRICA : ARISE!
VATICAN CITY, 25 OCT 2009 (VIS) - In the Vatican Basilica at 10 a .m. today the Pope presided at a Eucharistic concelebration with Synod Fathers to mark the closure of the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.
Commenting on this Sunday's readings in his homily, Benedict XVI explained that "God's plan does not change. Through the centuries and the upheavals of history, He always aims at the same goal: the Kingdom of freedom and of peace for all. This implies His predilection for those deprived of freedom and peace, for those whose dignity as human beings is violated. We think in particular of our brothers and sisters in Africa who suffer poverty, disease, injustice, war, violence and forced migration".
"The Church that is in Africa, through her pastors who have come from every country on the continent, from Madagascar and from the other islands, has welcomed the message of hope and the light to walk along the road that leads to the Kingdom of God. ... Faith in Jesus Christ - when it is well understood and practiced - guides mankind and nations to freedom in truth, or, to use the three words of the Synod's theme, to reconciliation, justice and peace".
After then highlighting how the Church in the world is "the community of reconciled persons, workers for peace and justice", the Holy Father made it clear that "for this reason the Synod has forcefully re-emphasised - and expressed - that the Church is the Family of God, in which there can be no ethnic, linguistic or cultural divisions. ... The reconciled Church is a powerful leaven of reconciliation in single countries and in the whole African continent", he said.
The Church transmits the message of salvation, "always associating evangelisation with human promotion", said the Pope. In this context he mentioned the "historic" Encyclical "Populorum Progressio", saying that what Paul VI wrote there "missionaries have put into effect and continue to put into effect in the field, promoting a development respectful of local cultures and the environment, according to a logic that now, forty years later, appears to be the only one able to bring the African people out of the slavery of hunger and disease.
"This means transmitting the announcement of hope in 'priestly form'", he added, "that is, living the Gospel in the first person, trying to translate it into projects and deeds consistent with the fundamental driving principle, which is love".
Pope Benedict encouraged the Church in Africa to arise. "Start down the road of new evangelisation with the courage that comes from the Holy Spirit", he said. "The urgent evangelising action that has been much discussed in these weeks also carries with it a pressing call to reconciliation, the indispensable condition for creating in Africa relationships of justice among mankind and for building an equitable and lasting peace while respecting every individual and every people: a peace that needs and opens up to the contribution of all persons of good will beyond the respective religious, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and social affiliations".
"Courage! Arise, continent of Africa !" the Pope cried. "Welcome with renewed enthusiasm the proclamation of the Gospel so that the face of Christ might illuminate with its splendour the multiplicity of the cultures and languages of your people. As she offers the bread of the Word and the Eucharist, the Church also dedicates herself to working with every available means to ensure that no African may be without daily bread. This is why, along with the primary task of evangelisation, Christians are active in the work of human promotion".
The Holy Father concluded his homily by calling on pastors of the Church in Africa , when they return to their communities, to "transmit to everyone the call that so often resounded in this Synod, of reconciliation, justice and peace".
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