VATICAN CITY, APR 30, 2002 (VIS) - The second group of Nigerian bishops, in Rome for their "ad limina" visit, was welcomed today by the Holy Father. Addressing them in English, he said he shared their concern "for the peaceful development of your peoples, not only in terms of material advancement, but especially in genuine political freedom, ethnic harmony and respect for the rights of all citizens."
He highlighted two points of the bishops' National Pastoral Plan for Nigeria which, he said, could help achieve this development: the new evangelization and the Church's responsibility in civil society. Within this twofold context, the Pope especially emphasized building up the Church as family, saying: "When proclamation and catechesis succeed in building up the Church as family, the whole of society benefits: harmony between different ethnic groups is given a stronger foundation, ethnocentrism is avoided and reconciliation encouraged, greater solidarity and a sharing of resources among people, and life in society becomes ever more imbued with an awareness of the obligations which flow from respect for the God-given dignity of every human being."
The Holy Father went on to say that "honesty and openness to dialogue is a necessary Christian attitude both inside the community as well as outside, with other believers and with men and women of good will. An erroneous understanding of inculturation or ecumenism however, must not compromise the duty to evangelize."
"Moreover," he stated, "evangelization and integral human development - the development of every person and of the whole person - are intimately linked." He observed that "proclaiming Jesus Christ means to reveal to people their inalienable dignity. ... Precisely because people have been endowed with this extraordinary dignity they should not be reduced to living in sub-human social, economic, cultural or political conditions. This is the theological basis of the struggle for the defense of justice and social peace, for the promotion, liberation and integral human development of all people and of every individual."
John Paul II told the bishops that "the connection between evangelization and human development explains the Church's presence in the social sphere, in the arena of public and social life. ... Following Our Lord's example, she exercises her prophetic role on behalf of all people, especially the poor, the suffering, the defenseless; she becomes the voice of the voiceless, insisting that the dignity of the human person should always be at the center of local, national and international programs."
"Proclamation of the Good News," the Pope said in conclusion, "therefore involves the promotion of initiatives that contribute to the development and ennoblement of people in their spiritual and material existence. It also denounces and combats all that degrades or destroys the human person."
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