Pope calls on church in africa to advocate for reconciliation

adminonDecember 24, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Pope Benedict XVI. The Catholic Church in Africa has called for a strong commitment to justice and peace. In the face of civil wars, stark social contrasts and environmental destruction, the church must work for lasting reconciliation in all areas, says a letter from the pope to Africa's bishops.

The continent, like the rest of the world, is currently experiencing a "culture shock" that is shaking the thousand-year-old foundations of social life. This "anthropological crisis" complicates the encounter with modernity.

The document, with the Latin title "Africae munus" (The Commitment of Africa), which Benedict XVI. signed Saturday in Ouidah, Benin, West Africa, lays out guidelines for church action in Africa. The pope's comments include AIDS, discrimination against women and interfaith dialogue. This Sunday in Cotonou, the pope will present the final document of the 2009 Synod of Africa to African bishops.

Benedict XVI. In the letter, calls for an open and honest coming to terms with the past in the continent's countries shattered by civil war and genocide. Those responsible must be held accountable. Victims have a right to truth and justice, writes Benedict XVI., without naming individual countries.

Benedict XVI. Also reaffirms the official position of the Catholic Church on AIDS. In the fight against the immune deficiency disease, marital fidelity, sexual abstinence and a rejection of sexual permissiveness are the most effective means, the paper says.

Benedict XVI. also calls for greater protection of the unborn and the family. Church's opposition to abortions tolerates "no ambiguity". The bishops must point out more clearly the "questionable aspects of certain documents of international institutions" on this subject.

The head of the Catholic Church also expresses concern about continuing discrimination against women in Africa. In the name of outdated traditions, women are often humiliated and degraded, it says. Their dignity and rights "continue to be neither fully recognized nor appreciated". Pope calls on Church to stand up for women's rights.

The pope also encourages the church on the continent to deepen dialogue with Islam and indigenous religions. The church must have a "patient" discussion with Muslims about the legal and practical recognition of religious freedom.

In the Catholic Church, married couples have only had one chance to become saints together: If they died as martyrs. Now, for the first time, a married couple is to be canonized for living their marriage in an exemplary manner.

Marriage is, as Pope Francis once tweeted, "a royal road to becoming saints". But at least the official calendar of saints he can here hardly have had in mind: In the past 500 years, married couples have only been canonized together because they died as martyrs, not because they lived exemplary lives as spouses. Now, for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, a married couple is to be canonized who were not killed out of hatred for the faith: the French couple Louis (1823-1894) and Zelie Martin geb. Guerin (1831-1877).

On Saturday, Francis officially named the two as future saints at a meeting of cardinals, known as a consistory, at the Vatican and set the date for their canonization: the French couple is scheduled for 18. October in the context of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on family and marriage to be canonized. Thus also the first holy family of the modern times develops.

Parents of St. Therese

For the Martins are the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897). Already during the last Synod of Bishops, relics of the couple were displayed in St. Peter's Basilica and in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

It is not that there have been no saintly couples and families at all so far. Known are for example the parents of the Mother of God Mary, St. Joachim and St. Anna. But both were venerated as saints even before the introduction of a central Roman canonization procedure in 1588. The same is true for most other holy couples. The few couples canonized in due process after 1588 were among larger groups of martyrs killed during the persecutions of Christians in Japan and Korea.

According to the Cologne clergyman and saint expert Helmut Moll, Louis and Zelie Martin can therefore be considered the first married couple to be canonized in this capacity. The Zelies became the second couple ever to be beatified in 2008, achieving a preliminary step toward canonization. Seven years earlier, the Italian couple Luigi (1880-1951) and Maria (1884-1965) Beltrame Quattrocchi, had already been beatified.

All daughters religious

The canonization process of the Martins, however, was accompanied by suspicion: They would be canonized only because they were the parents of a saint, a prominent one at that. Already in the context of the beatification ceremony, this conjecture was expressly rejected. The 19-year marriage produced nine children. All five daughters who reached adulthood became women religious.

Marriage and holiness: there are the early Christian martyrs, who often became saints precisely because they steadfastly refused to enter into a marriage covenant with a pagan. St. Agnes of Rome for example. Then there are those saints whose husbands, by their early death, cleared the way for a religious life. And there were probably the nameless bulk of those who were simply faithful, caring and fallible spouses without halos.

Francis: "Sacrifice and devotion"

Saints are the stars of the Catholic Church. For the first time, a married couple will now soon be officially recommended for veneration worldwide. This is considered a clear signal. Whoever asked where the "stars" of the church were, which they opposed to the stars of the world, who preached sexual permissiveness and self-realization, quickly brought his counterpart into explanatory trouble. John Paul II had already said that. (1978-2005) recognized. Benedict XVI. had to go all the way back to 6 in his message to World Family Day in Mexico City in 2009. The family's origins go back to the nineteenth century, to the senator Gordiano and his wife Silvia, the parents of Pope Gregory the Great, when he wanted to give examples to today's families.

And how is one now canonized as a married couple? It doesn't sound hard: Be ready to "sacrifice and surrender" every day, Francis tweeted.

Amnesty International calls on the German government to show more commitment to human rights. Monika Luke, secretary general of the German branch of the human rights organization, cites Iran, Guantanamo and the foreign deployments of the German armed forces, but also sees major deficits in the EU.

epd: Ms. Luke, what is your human rights assessment of the year 2010?

Luke: This year, two topics were particularly important for Amnesty with regard to German politics: the foreign deployments of the Bundeswehr and the compulsory identification of the police. We demand that Defense Minister Guttenberg initiate a law that regulates the rights and duties of soldiers on foreign missions and clarifies exactly how the human rights of civilians, including insurgents, must be protected.
Berlin police to introduce mandatory identification in first months of 2011. Police officers may choose name or number. This is a great success. Now the other federal states and the federal police must follow suit. Labeling is important because in cases of disproportionate force, those responsible can be identified and prosecuted. On the other hand, colleagues are protected from unjustified accusations.
epd: Where are regressions to be lamented?

Luke: In terms of human rights, there is a black spot in Europe, and that is discrimination against Roma people. Germany and all EU member states must end legal discrimination and exclusion of Roma from society. Thus, in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Roma children are sent to special schools. The Strasbourg Court of Human Rights has condemned this action against the right to education and inadmissible discrimination. Unfortunately, the reform efforts of the Czech and Slovak governments have not been sufficient so far.
epd: What is the general state of human rights in the European Union??

Luke: There are further shortcomings in the EU: the Spanish authorities continue to detain people suspected of terrorist activities without contact with the outside world, although international human rights institutions had repeatedly called for the abolition of this practice. The European Court of Human Rights has criticized the lack of independence of the public prosecutor's office in France.
New laws in Lithuania criminalizing information about homosexuality are not compatible with the EU's common values and human rights standards. At the same time, there is little willingness within the EU to address human rights deficits with EU partners. This damages the country's own credibility.
epd: Let's look at the USA: How do you assess the state of affairs at Guantanamo??

Luke: Development is disappointing. In 2010, the closure of the Guantanamo detention center in Cuba, announced by President Obama, was postponed indefinitely. That means even under Obama, about 100 prisoners remain locked up there indefinitely without sentencing. About 30 to be tried by military commissions. The U.S. government's plan to bring at least some of the prisoners before civil courts in the U.S. failed in the U.S. Congress in December and, with the new majority there, has little chance of success in the coming years as well.
By accepting two prisoners from Guantanamo in September, Germany took an important step toward ending illegal detention, at least in two cases. German government should consider accepting more prisoners while pushing for closure of detention center.
epd: How do you rate the human rights policy of the black-yellow coalition??

Luke: The German government is increasingly willing to put human rights ies on its agenda and address them publicly. This also applies to ies that were considered almost taboo for a long time, such as human rights violations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Due to its seat on the World Security Council from 2011, Germany has an international responsibility to actively stand up for human rights. This is how the German government must fight for the recognition of the International Criminal Court.
On the other hand, the coalition showed little to no understanding in the run-up to the UN summit in September that human rights play a central role in achieving the Millennium Development Goals and fighting poverty. In development cooperation, too, we unfortunately observe critical tendencies when economic promotion is declared to be a main concern of the cooperation.
epd: Iran continues to be one of the countries with a very poor human rights record. What can the West do?

Luke: Amnesty International expects the German government and German politicians to continue to speak out publicly and to those responsible in Tehran on behalf of imprisoned activists, human rights defenders, journalists and students.
The ongoing repression of dissent must be the subject of dialogue in all contacts with the Iranian government – including talks on the nuclear program. It is crucial for the credibility of the German government's human rights policy, and that of the West in general, that double standards are not applied. In concrete terms, this means that the human rights situation in friendly states such as Israel, Egypt or Saudi Arabia is also openly and clearly addressed.

The interview was conducted by Elvira Treffinger.

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