• Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
The Texas Catholic
The Texas Catholic

Dallas, Texas

Today is Saturday, April 1, 2023
  • Home
  • Diocese
  • Bishop Burns
  • Synod
  • Columnists
  • Revista Catolica
  • Vatican
  • Subscribe
  • Follow
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Linkedin
    • Instagram
Home
Pope Francis

Pope arrives in Africa preaching peace

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Pope Francis greets children as he visits a refugee camp in Bangui, Central African Republic, Nov. 29. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope Francis greets children as he visits a refugee camp in Bangui, Central African Republic, Nov. 29. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

BANGUI, Central African Republic — Despite serious security concerns for Pope Francis and for those who would come to see him, the pope landed in Central African Republic Nov. 29 saying he came as “a pilgrim of peace.”

“Unity in diversity is a constant challenge, one which demands creativity, generosity, self-sacrifice and respect for others,” he said, visiting the country where political and ethnic rivalries also have split people along religious lines.

A brief airport arrival ceremony was held amid tight security provided by the Central Africans, France, the United Nations, U.N. peacekeepers, extra Vatican police and even some U.S. security officers dressed in dark suits.

Pope Francis and his entourage followed Catherine Samba-Panza, the country’s interim president, in a convoy to the presidential palace about five miles away.

The highway was lined with tens of thousands of people, many of whom waved palm or other tree branches. In addition to armed forces doing crowd control, armored U.N. vehicles were parked at almost every intersection.

Samba-Panza was appointed in January 2014 to lead the country out of the civil war that began in 2013 and toward democratic elections. The vote had been scheduled for October, but a new outbreak of violence between predominantly Muslim factions and predominantly Christian factions forced a postponement until Dec. 27.

Speaking at the presidential palace, Pope Francis told Samba-Panza and civic leaders that it was his deep hope that the vote would “enable the country to embark serenely on (a) new chapter of its history.”

As he often does when trying to encourage a nation’s leaders and people, Pope Francis looked to the nation’s ideals — “unity, dignity and labor” — telling the people that they and all their neighbors share the same hope to see those ideals realized.

Restoring harmony and forging unity, he told the president and civic leaders, will require “avoiding the temptation to fear others, the unfamiliar and what is not part of our ethnic group, our political views or our religious confession.”

“Unity, on the contrary, calls for creating and promoting a synthesis of the richness which each person has to offer,” he said.

Access to education, health care, adequate nutrition and decent housing must be provided to all, Pope Francis said. “In effect, our human dignity is expressed by our working for the dignity of our fellow man.”

“Those who have the means to enjoy a decent life, rather than being concerned with privileges,” he said, “must seek to help those poorer than themselves.”

The Central African Republic, rich in natural resources, can and must do more to develop job opportunities, but must work with local and international organizations and businesses to ensure that the use of natural resources does not become an abuse of them.

The country is located in the fertile Congo Basin, known as the “green heart of Africa,” and decisions about resource exploitation can “affect the entire planet,” the pope said.

Pope Francis also thanked all of the international organizations and governments helping the Central Africans move toward peace. “I heartily encourage them to continue along the path of solidarity in the hope that their commitment, together with the activity of the Central African authorities, will help the country to advance, especially in the areas of reconciliation, disarmament, peacekeeping, health care and the cultivation of a sound administration at all levels.”

After all the uncertainty because of the security situation, the fact that the pope arrived is “a blessing from heaven,” Samba-Panza said. It is “a victory of faith over fear and disbelief and a victory of the compassion and solidarity of the universal church.”

The president thanked the pope for giving her people a “lesson of courage and determination” by visiting despite the recent violence.

The country, which was ruled by a succession of military dictators from 1962 to 1993, also has suffered from repeated coups. In the process, Samba-Panza said, “Our country has not been spared from devastating winds that sowed disunity and distrust” between ethnic and religious groups.

Samba-Panza — a Catholic and longtime politician — publicly addressed the pope just a few hours before he was to open the local celebration of the Year of Mercy by opening the Holy Door at Bangui’s cathedral.

“On behalf of the ruling class of this country but also on behalf of all those who contributed in any way whatsoever to his descent into hell,” she told the pope, “I confess all the harm that has been done here over the course of history and I beg forgiveness from the bottom of my heart.”

“Abominations have been committed in the name of religion by people who call themselves believers,” she said. “But how can one be a believer and destroy places of worship, kill one’s neighbor, rape, destroy another’s property?”

She prayed the pope would exorcize “the demons of division, hatred and self-destruction.”

After the meeting, Pope Francis went three miles by popemobile to a refugee camp set up around a Catholic parish. Some 3,300 people live there and most are women and children.

Little children had lined up holding torn pieces of light fabric with words written on them: peace, love, friendship, equality.

The pope told the crowd he had read the signs. “We work and pray and do everything possible for peace, but without love, without friendship, tolerance, forgiveness, peace isn’t possible.”

“May you all live in peace not matter what your ethnicity, religion, social status,” the pope said.

Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest
Next article At Bangui mosque and Mass, pope prays for peace
Previous article Beginning a new era

Related Posts

Doctors report 'marked improvement' in pope's condition Pope Francis
Friday, March 31, 2023

Doctors report 'marked improvement' in pope's condition

Pope hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says Pope Francis
Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Pope hospitalized for respiratory infection, Vatican says

Confession is 'encounter of love' that fights evil, pope tells priests Pope Francis
Friday, March 24, 2023

Confession is 'encounter of love' that fights evil, pope tells priests

Texas Catholic Classics

A look at the five Dallas law enforcement officers who gave their lives while protecting citizens during a mass shooting in downtown Dallas in July 2016.

 

How a child with special needs inspired a high school volleyball team, community and a family who heeded God’s call to protect life.

 

After a young runner collapsed at a Dallas marathon, grace and providence unfolded for those involved in the valiant effort to help her.

   

In the summer of 2016, 50 students and 25 chaperones from Dallas Catholic high schools traveled to Nicaragua for a 10-day mission trip.

 

Early on a November morning, Kenndrick Mendieta bounded from the gym at Cristo Rey Dallas College Prep toward the campus’ athletic fields as clouds lifted on a fresh new day.

 

Subscribe

Get the award-winning Texas Catholic delivered to your door. Use the menu below to subscribe now.


Subscription length




 

Photo Gallery

Click here to find your favorite Texas Catholic photographs.

The Texas Catholic Newspaper

Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Michael Gresham, Editor

3725 Blackburn Street
Dallas, Texas 75219
(214) 379-2800

Our Affiliated Sites

Texas Catholic Youth

Revista Católica

Legal and Other

Contact us

Terms of service

Privacy policy

Site map

Site powered by TexasCatholicMedia

© 2013-2019 The Texas Catholic Publishing Company. All rights reserved.