Vatican City, 2 June 2014 (VIS) –
“The Church in your country has stood fast with her people both
before and after independence, now also in the years of overwhelming
suffering as millions have left the country in frustration and
desperation, as many lives have been lost, so many tears shed”,
writes Pope Francis in the address he handed to the prelates of the
Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference this morning, at the end of
their “ad limina” visit.
The Holy Father writes about the growth
of the Church in the country, comparing it to a young, strong tree,
full of life and bearing fruit, and mentions that “generations of
Zimbabweans – including many political leaders – have been
educated in Church schools. He then goes on to praise the prelates
for the exercise of their prophetic ministry, in which they have
given voice to all the struggling people of their country, especially
to the downtrodden and refugees. He refers to their 2007 Pastoral
Letter, “God Hears the Cry of the Oppressed”, which describes
“the origins of the spiritual and moral crisis, stretching from
colonial times through the present moment”, and how the “structures
of sin” embedded in the social order “are ultimately rooted in
personal sin, requiring of all a profound personal conversion”.
“Christians find themselves on all
sides of the conflict in Zimbabwe, and so I urge you to guide
everyone with great tenderness towards unity and healing”, he
continues. “This is a people both black and white, some richer but
most exceedingly poorer, of numerous tribes; the followers of Christ
belong to all political parties, some in positions of authority, many
not. But together as the one pilgrim People of God, they need
conversion and healing, in order to become ever more fully 'one Body,
one Spirit in Christ'. Through preaching and works of the apostolate,
may your local Churches demonstrate that 'reconciliation is not an
isolated act but a lengthy process by which all parties are
re-established in love – a love that heals through the working of
God’s word'”.
“While Zimbabweans’ faithfulness is
already a balm on some of these national wounds, I know that many
people have reached their human limit, and do not know where to turn.
In the midst of all this, I ask you to encourage the faithful never
to lose sight of the ways in which God is hearing their supplications
and answering their prayers, for, as you have written, he cannot fail
to hear the cry of the poor. In this Easter season, as the Church
throughout the world celebrates the victory of Christ over the power
of sin and death, the Gospel of the resurrection which you are
entrusted to proclaim must be clearly preached and lived in Zimbabwe.
Let us never forget the lesson of the resurrection: 'on razed land
life breaks through, stubbornly yet invincibly. However dark things
are, goodness always re-emerges and spreads”. Pope Francis
concluded by quoting from his Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii
Gaudium: “Each day in our world beauty is born anew, it rises
transformed through the storms of history”.
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