To Religious and Laity Gathered in Abidjan (11 May 1980)

On Sunday, 11 May 1980, the Holy Father spoke to religious and laity in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, addressing first the priests, then religious, and finally the laity.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Your magnificent gathering allows me, once again, to measure the vitality of the Church which is in Côte d'Ivoire. Thank you for coming in such large numbers and so eager to advance on the paths of the Kingdom of God and to help others approach it!

To all, I address the same pressing and confident encouragement: be what you must be, in the eyes of the Lord who has called you, and in the eyes of the world which needs your evangelical witness! And this, in the vocation that is proper to each one. It is a question of fidelity to the Lord, of loyalty to yourselves, of respect for others, of ecclesial solidarity.

You have given much to the Church and to your country. Always give them more.

To Priests

To you, dear sons who have received the incomparable grace of priestly ordination, I first express my deep happiness in knowing that you live in unity among yourselves, whether you come from the Ivorian people or from other countries, and in trusting collaboration with your bishops. May the heartfelt cry of Christ “Let them be one” always burn your own heart! The credibility of the Gospel and the effectiveness of apostolic work largely depend on the unity of pastors, called to form a single presbyterium, whatever the position and the responsibilities of each.

At this moment, which is as moving for me as it is for you, I would like above all to reinforce in you an absolutely essential conviction: Christ has seized you and has shaped you especially to himself in your priestly character, to serve the Church and men of today by devoting all your physical and spiritual strength to it. The mystery of the priesthood is not determined by sociological analyses, wherever they come from. It is in the Church, with the leaders of the Church, that it is possible to deepen and live this gift of the Lord Jesus. I beg you: have faith in your priesthood!

I hasten to add another encouragement, capital too. May Christ be like the breath of your daily life! Your everyday loyalty and your influence are at this price. Further develop your fraternity among priests, in your parish teams, your meetings for reflection and apostolic consultation, and even more your times of prayer and retreat. These two dimensions, with the Lord and between you, will be the rampart of your priestly celibacy and the guarantee of its fruitfulness. Live this evangelical renunciation of carnal fatherhood in the constant perspective of spiritual fatherhood which fills the hearts of priests totally given to their people. Live these demands and these joys in the spirit of the apostles of all times.

To Religious

I am particularly happy to be able to express to you in person my affection and the great hope that I place in the testimony of your evangelical life.

To you, monks and nuns who live the mystery of Christ adoring the Father in the name of humanity, I sincerely hope that the year of Saint Benedict, proposed to the whole Church, will stimulate your fervor, promote the influence of your monasteries. , arouses new and solid contemplative vocations.

To the Brothers and Sisters who collaborate with all their soul in the direct tasks of evangelization, I express my admiration and my gratitude which is also that of the Church. How many parish centers, Catholic colleges, vocational or housekeeping training centres, high school chaplaincies, youth centers, dispensaries, reception centers for migrants, benefit from your talents and the treasure of your faith and your charity!

Through you, dear Brothers and dear Sisters, Christ travels today through the towns and villages of Africa and announces the Good News to their inhabitants. Such a mission requires a very intimate union with the Lord, nourished regularly in intense moments of silence and prayer. Such a mission also requires that, in the legitimate diversity of the spiritual families to which you belong, you remain very united and very cooperative for the credibility of the Gospel. This true spiritual dynamism and this realistic apostolic consultation can certainly awaken in young people the call that you yourselves have heard: “Come, follow me”.

Finally, always remember that the foundation of your unity is Christ himself. All of you have voluntarily given him the mastery and the use of all that you are, of all that you have, to signify that he is the ultimate end, the plenitude of all human creatures, and to testify to this through your multiple activities.

Your religious life is in a word the mystery of Christ in you and the mystery of your poor life in Him. This is what must be increasingly transparent. The Christian communities need your testimony so much! And the world, even a few believers, confusedly expects an ideal of life from you. So your three religious vows are not lessons given to others, but signs likely to open them to values ​​that do not pass. May your poverty also be a sharing with the poorest! May your obedience be a call to self-centering, to humility! May your chastity, lived in the greatest fidelity, be a revelation of universal love, of the very tenderness of God!

To the Laity

To you, dear lay Christians, I express my confidence and my gratitude for all that you have done and what you will continue to do - with the episcopate and the clergy of Côte d'Ivoire - on the level of evangelization. You live today, in your towns and villages, what the first Christian communities lived, according to the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of Saint Paul, which speak to us of so many lay Christians at the service of the Gospel.

You all also know that the recent Second Vatican Council highlighted the resources that every lay person derives from the fact that he is inserted into the Body of Christ which is the Church, through his baptism and confirmation. The time has come to combine more and more all the forces of the people of God, around the Pastors whom the Holy Spirit has given you.

I warmly welcome the excellent work of lay catechists and the existence of apostolic movements, offered to young people and adults, for their formation and the support of their Christian commitments. I wish that these movements are always adapted, always flourishing. I would like to rekindle your apostolic flame by encouraging you on three points which seem very important to me. Evangelize your own life, always be in a state of conversion, if you really want to participate in the evangelization of the world; others need your experience of Christian life. Set aside time for retreat and life review.

Remain very attentive to those around you, out of charity and always with respect. In your parishes which remain the vital centers of your Christian life, in your small neighborhood communities, in your school or professional circles, allow the problems, the sufferings, the projects, the joys of those who need to confide in you, to find near you moral and spiritual support.

In your meetings between members of apostolic movements, verify your common fidelity to the Lord who has called you to work for the salvation of your brothers. Take a hard look at the concrete situations experienced by the people of your neighbourhood, your region, your country, in all that they have that is positive, and, alas, in all that they have that is dehumanizing. All together precisely, discern wisely the action to be undertaken or continued, at the religious level and at the human level, for the evangelization of Africans and for the integral promotion of their persons in respect of the cultural values ​​of Africa.

Courage and confidence! The light and the strength of the Spirit of Pentecost have always been abundantly given to the intrepid workers of the Gospel.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana