Holy See spokesman says Pope's Benin trip a success

(November 21, 2011) According to the Holy See’s spokesman, Pope Benedict XVI’s three-day pastoral visit to Benin has been a spiritual and pastoral success. For the Vatican it is important that the authorities welcome the Pope, but it is even more important that the people are happy, said Vatican spokesman Fr, Federico Lombardi to Vatican Radio reporter Father Moses Hamungole. Both had accompanied the Pontiff in the Nov. 18-20 trip to Benin where on Sunday he released his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation “Africae Munus” or “Africa’s Commitment”, that outlines the roadmap of the Catholic Church of Africa on the recommendations of the Synod for Africa held in the Vatican in 2009. Fr. Lombardi said that Pope Benedict was impressed by the joy expressed in the peoples' dancing, singing and smiling faces. The Jesuit priest said that Benin’s people have understood that the Pope and the Catholic Church love them all - not only the Catholics and the Christians. This the Vatican official pointed out was clear in the Pope's words when he spoke of the dignity of the human person and of the human, spiritual, economic and social development which must take place in freedom, reconciliation and peace. The Vatican spokesman said that the message of the exhortation expresses what every man and woman in the world desires: to be reconciled and to live in peace with the other, and to have hope for the future