Pope meets Uganda’s bishops

(March 5, 2010) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday expressed his condolences for the victims of landslides in Uganda and offered his prayers for the dead and those suffering. Heavy rains in the country's east have triggered flooding that has displaced more than 20,000 people and caused a massive landslide in the Bududa region that officials say has buried several hundred people. The Pope’s condolences came in his talk to the bishops from Uganda who are in Rome for their so-called ‘ad limina’ to report on the state of their dioceses.
In his talk to the bishops, Pope Benedict also raised some pastoral issues of Uganda’s Church. He told the bishops that their flocks need to “appreciate fully the sacrament of marriage in its unity and indissolubility, and the sacred right to life.” He said that priests as well as the lay faithful need to resist the seduction of a materialistic culture of individualism which has taken root in so many countries. “Continue to call for lasting peace based on justice and generosity towards those in need and a spirit of dialogue and reconciliation,” the Pope said. “While promoting true ecumenism,” the Pope cautioned the bishops to be “especially close to those who are more vulnerable to the advances of sects.” He also called for generous service to the displaced, orphans from war-torn areas and those afflicted by poverty, AIDS and other diseases. The Holy Father recommended that the lay people, especially those engaged in the media, politics and culture, be formed in the Social Doctrine of the Church, and he encouraged them to be “active and outspoken in the service of what is just and noble.”