Farewell to Africa, Abidjan, Ivory Coast (12 May 1980)
ShareOn Monday, 12 May 1980, in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), the Holy Father gave his final Address to the peoples of Africa as he prepared for his departure.
1. At the end of my visit to the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, it is with a heart full of gratitude that I address one last time to you, Mr. President, and, through you, to all the people of Côte d'Ivoire. Thank you, yes, thank you for your truly unforgettable welcome, for the warmth of the encounters, for the fervent and friendly climate which marked all the contacts. Thank you for having understood the particular character that I wanted to give to this stay, as it suited my spiritual mission of universal service. Thank you for your joy. Mine was even bigger. I feel the honor you have given me. I also measure your efforts to provide your guest with hospitality worthy of Côte d'Ivoire and Africa. I will always remember all this, I promise you.
In particular, I thank the authorities for the honor they bestowed on me to give my name to a street in the city of Abidjan and to the main square of Yamoussoukro.
It is a delicate gesture which I hope will contribute to keeping alive not only the memory of my visit but above all my esteem and my affection for the entire Ivorian people.
I am also delighted to have had the opportunity to bless the first stone of the cathedral of Abidjan and of the Church of Our Lady of Africa. A personal link is thus established between the Pope and these two churches. I dare to hope that all those who pray there will not forget to pray also for the universal Church... and for me!
The trip outside the capital yesterday that I undertook to meet the youth of this Country was for me an experience of joy, and an hour of hope for the future of this dear Country.
2.To Monsignor Bernard Yago, to my brother bishops and to all the Catholics of the country, when we have to say goodbye to them, can I entrust a certain incipient nostalgia? That of having seen living communities, full of enthusiasm and imagination, and now having to leave them... Imagination is a virtue of which we think too little. But you know how to show it to find, in the context which is yours, the appropriate ways of evangelization. You are thus setting an example which can serve to encourage other Episcopal Conferences and other local Churches. This creates you at the same time as a moral obligation, in the name of the solidarity of the members of the Body of Christ, which is that all, clergy, men and women religious, laity, seek to further purify their testimony to make it ever more consistent with what the Lord expects of it. I express my hope to you at the same time as my deep satisfaction.
3. Farewell now, O you Africa, this continent so loved already and which I longed, since my election to the See of Peter, to discover and explore. Farewell to the Peoples who received me, and to all the others to whom I would love so much one day; if Providence permits, bear my affection personally. I learned a lot of things during this journey. You cannot know how instructive it was. In turn, I would like to leave Africans with a message that springs from the heart, meditated on before God, demanding because it comes from a friend for his friends.
Africa seemed like a vast construction site to me, from all points of view, with its promises and also, perhaps, its risks. Wherever one goes, one admires a considerable undertaking in favor of development and the raising of the standard of living, in favor of the progress of man and of society. There is a long way to go. The methods can be different and prove to be more or less suitable. But the desire to move forward is undeniable. Already, significant results have been obtained.
Education spreads, diseases that were once deadly are conquered, new techniques are introduced, people begin to know how to fight against certain natural obstacles. We also experience more the value of the riches specific to the African soul, and this arouses pride.
At the same time, the accession to national sovereignty and its respect seem to be the object of everyone's aspirations.
There is an original heritage here, which absolutely must be safeguarded and promoted harmoniously. It is not easy to master such bubbling, to make the living forces serve authentic development. There is indeed a great temptation to demolish instead of build, to procure arms at great cost for populations in need of bread, to want to appropriate power - even if it is by training ethnic groups against others, in fratricidal and bloody struggles - while the poor sigh after peace, or succumbing to the intoxication of profit for the benefit of a privileged class.
Do not fall, dear African brothers and sisters, into this disastrous spiral, which really has nothing to do with your dignity as creatures of God, nor with what you are capable of. You don't have to imitate some alien pattern, based on human contempt or self-interest. You do not have to run after artificial needs which will give you an illusory freedom or which will lead you to individualism, when the community aspiration is so strongly anchored in you. Nor do you have to delude yourself about the virtues of ideologies that make you dangle complete happiness always postponed until tomorrow.
Be yourself. I assure you: you, who are so proud of your possibilities, can prove to the world that you are capable of solving your own problems yourself, with the humanitarian, economic and cultural assistance which is still useful to you and which is only fair, but making sure to point it all in the right direction.
Personal and social ethics are necessary if you want to achieve this. Honesty, the meaning of work, of service, of the common good, the deep meaning of life in society, or the meaning of life in general, these are words or expressions that already speak to you. I hope that you will always seek their concrete and loyal application, just as I hope that my Catholic sons and daughters will put them into practice better themselves and help to discover their significance.
4.I am in Africa, in particular to commemorate the centenary of evangelization in several countries. These are anniversaries loaded with hope, the hope of a new breath to undertake a new stage. This also applies to all the countries visited. You are the Church in Africa. What an honor, and also what a responsibility! You are the whole Church, and at the same time you are part of the universal Church, a little like the Gospel which is the good of everyone and is equally addressed to everyone. A bit like Jesus Christ himself who, having incarnated himself within a people, lives his incarnation within each people, because he came for everyone, he belongs to everyone, he is the wonderful gift of the Father to all mankind. I truly believe and profess that he came for Africans, to uplift and save the African soul, also waiting for salvation, showing her her beauty but also enriching her from within, preaching to her eternal life with God. He came for Africans as for all men, that is to say in the same way, and he is not a stranger to any national feeling, to any mentality, inviting his disciples from whatever continent they come from, to experience among themselves the admirable exchange of faith and charity.
Like him, I would like to tell you, today, with all the love that fills my heart: the Pope is the servant of all men, the Pope feels at home in Africa!
Farewell Africa! I carry with me all that you gave me so generously and all that you revealed to me during this journey. May God bless you in each of your children, and may He make you taste peace and prosperity!
© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
