On Arrival in Brazzaville, the Congo (5 May 1980)

On Monday, 5 May 1980,  the Holy Father, on his arrival in Brazzaville in the Congo, addressed the Congolese people.

1. May God bless the Congolese land on which I was invited to stop during my pastoral visit to Africa!

Mister President,

These are words of peace and blessing that the Head of the Catholic Church comes, on this day, to address to the nation for which you assume the highest responsibility. With what joy and with what gratitude to God, who made this long-awaited journey possible! Having already been able to go to several countries to bear witness to the Gospel there, since Providence called me to the service of the universal Church, he urged me to go and meet the African populations in their homes and to express to them my concern: “My daily obsession, the concern of all the Churches”[ 1 ].

By courteously offering their hospitality and assistance, the authorities of the People's Republic of the Congo deserve my thanks for their welcome, and Your Excellency in particular. I express my respectful greetings to them, in the image of the ever more trusting relations that I would like to maintain personally with them.

2. I greet you all, dear Congolese men and women, inhabitants of Brazzaville and you who, not wanting to consider the fatigues of displacement, have come running from other regions of the country. You too, who live in your towns and villages and perhaps listen to me on the radio. All of you, I want to bless you and encourage you in your work, in your various activities, but above all in your life, thinking of your joys and your sorrows, and also of all the efforts that you undertake on a personal level or as citizens. All of you, without exception, I bring you my deep affection, with wishes for all your personal and family intentions. Wishes also for your homeland and its prosperous and peaceful future.

3. To the Christian communities of the country and to those who devote themselves to it, as well as to the Catholics of the neighboring countries whom I will not have the chance to visit on the spot, I address my very fervent encouragement for their apostolic zeal and their loyalty to the Church. May God reward them for so much ardor, and make it a subject of edification for their brothers in the faith in Africa as in the world! I will have the happiness, in a moment, to meditate with the delegations gathered at the cathedral, and to speak to them, but through them it is to all that the Vicar of Christ will speak.

Yes, I pray for the smooth running of this Congolese stage of my trip, a trip of friendship, a religious trip on which I base many hopes, because it wants to serve the future of peoples according to God.

 [ 1 ] 2 Cor . 11, 28.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana