Cardinal Napier: Mandela a lesson and a building block for the future
(Vatican Radio) The world was in Johannesburg on Tuesday to pay tribute to Nelson
Mandela.
World leaders, Royalty, public personalities and millions of South
Africans gathered to honour the man who brought democracy and reconciliation to South
Africa, and became an icon for the rest of the world.
In his speech at the
FNB Stadium in Soweto where the memorial service was held, US President Barak Obama
hailed Mandela as a “giant in history”.
Also present, Cardinal Peter Turkson,
President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, appointed by Pope Francis
as his special envoy to participate at an Official Ceremony in memory of the former
President of the Republic of South Africa, Nelson Mandela who died on Thursday, aged
95.
For those who couldn’t be at the Soweto Stadium, giant screens were set
up across the nation so that all could follow.
Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni
spoke to South African Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier, Archbishop of Durban, who said
the nation is filled with a sense of gratitude for what Madiba stood for, and for
the things he did for his country, his people and their future... Listen
to the interview… Cardinal Napier
mentions that to build the rainbow nation and forge a democratic society, Nelson Mandela’s
clear vision led him “break ranks with his own party in order to enter into negotiations”
which he did “with a very clear vision of the kind of South Africa he wanted to emerge
from those negotiations – a country where everyone would be respected, accepted and
even loved as a brother or sister. And therefore, the South Africa that he was dreaming
about would be a South Africa filled with ‘Ubuntu’ or that ‘humaness’, that fellow-feeling,
that mutual respect”. He says the fact that “he shared that dream with so many people
has given rise to the overwhelming sense of gratitude for what Mandela has done for
us, and been for us”.
Cardinal Napier agrees that although Mandela was not
a Catholic, much of what he did and stood for is very much in line with Catholic Social
Teaching.
He says that Catholic Teaching “de-codifies what are the highest
ideals in the human heart and the human spirit”. And he says that “certainly, when
you look at the way Mandela related to people, the first impression you got when you
entered into a relationship with him was: “this man is making me feel human”, “this
man is showing me such respect I cannot but respect myself and in the course of respecting
myself, respect others in the same way he has respected me”. Secondly – Cardinal Napier
points out - “the whole idea of repentance and reconciliation: that is not very common
in politics. But that is what Mandela was preaching when he started off the negotiations:
in order to change, we must change ourselves in order to start changing others and
change the whole situation – very Catholic values, very Christian values, very human
values…”.
In Cardinal Napier’s written tribute to Madiba, he acknowledges the
capacity of the South African people to respond and to act on Mandela’s invitation
to follow him in his journey to build one nation. In this interview the Cardinal says
that energy is coming through at the ceremony today, the same atmosphere one has experienced
in other memorial ceremonies - or celebrations - “I call them celebrations because
they are about thanksgiving”. Of course there is mourning – he says – because of
the loss of a great man, but there is even a greater “sense of appreciation of what
he has been and what he has made us become”.
Now – Cardinal Napier says – “we
have a tremendous task of climbing back up to the lofty hights where Mandela had led
us and where unfortunately our subsequent President has allowed the country to slip
away from”.
Today will hopefully represent something to build upon for the
future. “I believe that many, many people have suddenly woken up to the fact that
when Mandela retired we didn’t just lose his presence, we lost a lot of his spirit
and his idealism as well. What has overtaken the country at the present can be undone,
but everyone has to work the same way as Mandela did: selflessly, giving himself to
others, looking to the common good”.
Cardinal Napier says the best tribute
one can pay to someone you have admired is to imitate, and even emulate him, try and
be even better than that person. He notes that many times in the speeches today and
in previous days, the word “icon” has been used. “I think many people are using the
word icon as something that you put high on a pedestal, it is so unreachable that
the only thing you can do is admire it. I think Mandela is the kind of icon that says:
come and be like me. All you’ve got to do is realize your full human potential – come,
do it, I’ve done it.
The Cardinal concludes thanking the whole world for reminding
us what a great man South Africa has produced, and by waking us up to the fact that
“if you want a great man to have an impact on you, the best you can do is try to become
like that great person”. And that is what I think the world has done for us coming
to South Africa in such great numbers: Paying tribute to Mandela but also reminding
us that it is possible to do the same in our day and in the future…”.