(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis met with Bishops from South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland
on Friday. In prepared remarks, the Holy Father gave thanks to God for the growth
of the Church in southern Africa, “thanks to the labours of missionaries from many
lands,” who, along with indigenous men and women, “sowed the seeds of your people’s
faith so deeply.” In wide-ranging remarks, Pope Francis noted the great blessings
experienced by the Church in Southern Africa, despite very great challenges. He pointed
to flourishing parishes, the growth of the diaconate, and the service to “God’s most
vulnerable sons and daughters.” Where missionaries from distant countries once carried
the burden of the Gospel, now the local Catholic faithful “are having to rely more
and more on their own support.” They are “a sign of hope for the whole Church,” the
Pope said, praying that “they will continue to persevere in building up the Lord’s
Kingdom with their lives that testify to the truth, and with the work of their hands
that ease the sufferings of so many.”
Pope Francis also addressed the challenges
faced by the Church in southern Africa, mentioning the decline in Catholic families
and a corresponding drop in vocations, as well as defections from the Church. The
Holy Father dwelt on family issues, including abortion, separation and divorce, and
violence against women and children. “All these realities,” he said, “threaten the
sanctity of marriage, the stability of life in the home and consequently the life
of society as a whole. In this sea of difficulties, we bishops and priests must give
a consistent witness to the moral teaching of the Gospel.”
After touching on
such grave challenges, the Holy Father spoke about how the Church can respond to them.
He noted the union of the Bishops with the people, especially “in solidarity with
the vast number of unemployed.” Along with material assistance, he encouraged the
Bishops to offer “the greater support of spiritual assistance and sound moral guidance,
remembering that the absence of Christ is the greatest poverty of all.”
Promoting
vocations and encouraging reception of the Sacraments, the Pope said, are important
components of the Church’s work. Pope Francis focused especially on the Sacrament
of Matrimony. “The holiness and indissolubility of Christian matrimony, often disintegrating
under tremendous pressure from the secular world, must be deepened by clear doctrine
and supported by the witness of committed married couples. Christian matrimony is
a lifelong covenant of love between one man and one woman; it entails real sacrifices
in order to turn away from illusory notions of sexual freedom and in order to foster
conjugal fidelity.” He pointed to the teaching of Blessed John Paul II on marriage
and family as a “promising and indeed indispensable means of communicating the liberating
truth about Christian marriage.”
Pope Francis also expressed concern about
“the breakdown of Christian morals, including a growing temptation to collude with
dishonesty.” Quoting the Bishops themselves, he said “corruption is theft from the
poor… hurts the most vulnerable… harms the whole community… destroys our trust.”
Concluding
his remarks, Pope Francis said, “Now is the time to rekindle the precious gift of
faith so as to renew your dedicated service to God’s people! May the saints of Africa
sustain you by their intercession. May Our Lady of Africa be always at your side,
and may she guide you as you share in the teaching, sanctifying and governing mission
of Christ.”
Listen to Christopher Wells' report:
Below,
please find the complete text of Pope Francis’ remarks to the Bishops of South Africa,
Botswana, and Swaziland:
Dear Brother Bishops,
I offer you
a warm welcome as you make this pilgrimage ad Limina Apostolorum, in which you have
come to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and to reflect with me on
the joys and challenges of the Church in Botswana, South Africa and Swaziland. Your
presence expresses your unity with the Successor of Peter, and provides an opportunity
to be refreshed in the faith and in your ministry of shepherding God’s people. I
thank Cardinal Napier for his warm words of greeting, offered on behalf of Catholics
in your dioceses – priests, religious and lay faithful. I assure them through you
of my love and prayerful solidarity.
Our meeting today allows us to give thanks
to God the Father for the growth of the Church in your countries, thanks to the labours
of missionaries from many lands, who along with indigenous men and women of South
Africa, Botswana and Swaziland, sowed the seeds of your people’s faith so deeply.
For generations they have gone out to meet them wherever they are to be found, in
villages, towns and cities, and especially in ever-expanding urban townships. They
built the churches and schools and clinics that have served your countries for nearly
two centuries; this heritage shines forth even now in the heart of every believer
and in the continuing works of the apostolate. The Gospel teaches that the seed of
the Word, once sown, grows by itself even as the farmer sleeps, accomplishing “what
it wills in ways that surpass our calculations and ways of thinking” (Evangelii Gaudium,
22).
Despite many challenges, your countries are blessed by flourishing parishes,
thriving often against very great odds: far distances between communities, a dearth
of material resources and limited access to the sacraments. I know you are training
permanent deacons in some dioceses, to assist the clergy where priests are fewer.
There is a concerted effort to renew and deepen the formation of lay catechists who
assist mothers and fathers in preparing the coming generations in the faith. Priests
and religious brothers and sisters are of one mind and heart in their service of God’s
most vulnerable sons and daughters: widows, single mothers, the divorced, children
at risk and especially the several million AIDS orphans, many of whom head households
in rural areas. Truly the richness and joy of the Gospel is being lived and shared
by Catholics with others around them. A Catholic minority in countries of mixed religions,
the faithful are having to rely more and more on their own support, with diminished
aid from the countries who first sent missionaries. Many of them work with great
generosity in numerous projects of charity, manifesting the loving face of Christ
to those who need him most. Each is a sign of hope for the whole Church! I pray
that they will continue to persevere in building up the Lord’s Kingdom with their
lives that testify to the truth, and with the work of their hands that ease the sufferings
of so many.
You have spoken to me of some of the serious pastoral challenges
facing your communities. Catholic families have fewer children, with repercussions
on the number of vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Some Catholics turn
away from the Church to other groups who seem to promise something better. Abortion
compounds the grief of many women who now carry with them deep physical and spiritual
wounds after succumbing to the pressures of a secular culture which devalues God’s
gift of sexuality and the right to life of the unborn. In addition, the rate of separation
and divorce is high, even in many Christian families, and children frequently do not
grow up in a stable home environment. We also observe with great concern, and can
only deplore, an increase in violence against women and children. All these realities
threaten the sanctity of marriage, the stability of life in the home and consequently
the life of society as a whole. In this sea of difficulties, we bishops and priests
must give a consistent witness to the moral teaching of the Gospel. I am confident
that you will not weaken in your resolve to teach the truth “in season and out of
season” (2 Tim 4:2), sustained by prayer and discernment, and always with great compassion.
I appreciate the fact that you, the bishops of Botswana, South Africa and
Swaziland, are united to your people where they live and work and study, in solidarity
with the vast numbers of unemployed in your countries. Most of your people can identify
at once with Jesus who was poor and marginalized, who had no place to lay his head.
In addressing these pastoral needs, I ask you to offer, in addition to the material
support which you provide, the greater support of spiritual assistance and sound moral
guidance, remembering that the absence of Christ is the greatest poverty of all.
Here too we need to find new and creative ways of helping people encounter Christ
through a deeper understanding of the faith.
Another significant challenge
I have already touched on is the reduced number of priests – your first co-workers
in the task of evangelization – as well as a significant decline in seminarians. What
is required is a new impetus: fresh and authentic promotion of vocations in every
territory, a prudent selection of candidates for seminary studies, fatherly encouragement
of those men in formation, and attentive accompaniment in the years after ordination.
Together with priests, religious and lay catechists have played and continue to
play a vital role in the growth of your communities. It is essential that they receive
your encouragement and support, especially through the development of programmes of
ongoing formation grounded firmly in the inspired word of God, and introducing children
and adults to the life of prayer and the fruitful reception of the sacraments. The
sacrament of reconciliation, in particular, must be rediscovered as a fundamental
dimension of the life of grace. The holiness and indissolubility of Christian matrimony,
often disintegrating under tremendous pressure from the secular world, must be deepened
by clear doctrine and supported by the witness of committed married couples. Christian
matrimony is a lifelong covenant of love between one man and one woman; it entails
real sacrifices in order to turn away from illusory notions of sexual freedom and
in order to foster conjugal fidelity. Your programmes of preparation for the sacrament
of matrimony, enriched by Pope John Paul’s teaching on marriage and the family, are
proving to be promising and indeed indispensable means of communicating the liberating
truth about Christian marriage and are inspiring young people with new hope for themselves
and for their future as husbands and wives, fathers and mothers.
I have also
noted the concern which you expressed about the breakdown of Christian morals, including
a growing temptation to collude with dishonesty. This is an issue which you prophetically
addressed in your pastoral statement on corruption. As you pointed out, “corruption
is theft from the poor… hurts the most vulnerable… harms the whole community… destroys
our trust”. The Christian community is called to be consistent in its witness to
the virtues of honesty and integrity, so that we may stand before the Lord, and our
neighbours, with clean hands and a pure heart (cf. Ps 24:4) as a leaven of the Gospel
in the life of society. With this moral imperative in mind, I know that you will
continue to address this and other grave social concerns, such as the plight of refugees
and migrants. May these men and women always be welcomed by our Catholic com-munities,
finding in them open hearts and homes as they seek to begin a new life.
Dear
Brother Bishops, in my Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, issued at the end
of the Year of Faith which marked the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second
Vatican Council, I expressed my hope that all Christians will embark upon a new chapter
of evangelization marked by Gospel joy, seeking “new paths for the Church’s journey
in years to come” (cf. No. 1). Now is the time to rekindle the precious gift of faith
so as to renew your dedicated service to God’s people! May the saints of Africa sustain
you by their intercession. May Our Lady of Africa be always at your side, and may
she guide you as you share in the teaching, sanctifying and governing mission of Christ.
With
these sentiments and with great affection, I impart my Apostolic Blessing to you,
and to all the beloved priests, religious and lay faithful of your countries.