To the Bishops of Ivory Coast (11 May 1980)

On Sunday, 11 May 1980, in Abidjan, the Holy Father addressed the Bishops of Côte d'Ivoire, whom he encouraged to "remain spiritual leaders who are at the same time Fathers for their people."

Dear Brothers in the Episcopate,

Since yesterday evening, we have been meeting among your people. Now I have a time with you which will be more of a familiar conversation. We are family!

I remember that your nine dioceses are quite diverse in terms of church planting. I will speak for the whole.

1.First of all, I rejoice with you at the vitality of the Church in Côte d'Ivoire, and I give thanks to God. There were undoubtedly favorable external conditions: peace, the hospitable and tolerant character of the inhabitants, an innate religious sense as often in Africa. But we owe it above all to remarkable men of faith, to the zeal of the pioneers who were the missionaries, to the numerous and persevering initiatives on their part. We owe it today to yourselves, dear Brothers, whose courageous and wise devotion I know. You have created an excellent atmosphere of collaboration between the African clergy and the many foreign priests and religious who, thank God, continue to help each other. You also seek to make your lay people aware of their apostolic and material responsibilities. And,

2. I allow myself to underline some of these problems, not to provide solutions which are the object of your reflection and your consultation, but to show you the interest I take in your episcopal ministry.

I am thinking, for example, of the large cities of Abidjan and Bouaké, which are joining a considerable number of newcomers from the countryside and also immigrants from neighboring countries: how can the Church be made very present in these new neighborhoods and these new ? There are the poor of all kinds, the uprooted, the little ones to whom we owe a special presence and concern, like Christ.

There is also an elite, executives , who need more in-depth Christian reflection, at the level of their culture and their responsibilities, first of all so as not to remain on the margins of the Church, and also to participate in more harmonious development of the country.

Because there is a social justice to be promoted, against privileges of fortune or power, excessive inequalities, temptations of excessive enrichment, sometimes corruption, as you yourselves say. The Church must help those in charge not to transpose to you certain Western models of life, which tend to install individuals and families in materialism, individualism and practical atheism, and to leave many marginalized people behind. .

You are also concerned about the multitude of young people and students . Within the framework of the parishes, schools, they deserve a specialized pastoral care and in particular a catechesis for which the help of the elders would undoubtedly be welcome. You have done a lot for Catholic schools, in a country that should not have known the hints of Western secularism, and you are right. The challenge for young students is very great: can we provide them with the chaplaincy they need!

Catechists remain indispensable collaborators in evangelization, and you are rightly concerned to provide them with an initial and ongoing formation, appropriate to the needs of the various communities and the various milieus . I often talked about it during my trip. It is also necessary to train educators, priests, nuns and lay people, who make more in-depth religious studies, taking into account their African culture. Evangelism will greatly benefit from their qualified service, theologically and apostolically. I am aware of the excellent work being carried out here by the Catholic Institute of West Africa, which I have just visited. It is also a chance for you.

Family pastoral care is particularly important; I am aware of the difficult issues it raises. I spoke about it in Kinshasa. It is up to you, you bishops, to solve them in a concerted way, keeping the conviction that, starting from the Gospel, according to the secular experience of the Church expressed by the universal Magisterium and thanks to a patient formation of future spouses, it is possible for African couples to live, with particular intensity, the mystery of the Covenant, of which the covenant of God with his people, the covenant of Jesus Christ with his Church remain the source and the symbol. From these Christian families will flow deep and lasting goods, including for the faith of young people and for vocations.

Your Catholic communities must also find adequate relationships with other Christian communities, with Muslims, with other religious groups. But above all, you still have before you an immense field of evangelization: those who remain available for the proclamation of the Gospel, in the villages and in the towns. There is a properly missionary apostolate to pursue.

3. All of this has its value, its importance, and it is very difficult for me to give you priorities in these sectors of the apostolate. However, I think that you must, without neglecting anything, work out pastoral plans together to make your efforts converge on the essentials, in precise directions, and stick to them with perseverance.

For my part, I would only like to confirm your convictions on a few fundamental attitudes.

First about your episcopal ministry . You know the requirements better than anyone. Saint Paul warned us that to be ministers of Christ, with eyes fixed on the Gospel, is to expose ourselves to misunderstandings and tribulations. As one of your proverbs says: “The tree by the side of the path receives blows from all who pass”.

But I also wish you great spiritual consolations. Remain spiritual leaders who are at the same time Fathers for their people, in the manner of Christ who serves. Remain free vis-à-vis all profane power, while recognizing its specific competence and responsibility. Continue to encourage a broad collaboration of your priests and your lay people, to examine the problems, and associate them with your decisions. Above all, maintain close cohesion and true collaboration among yourselves, as indeed with the Bishops of West Africa. Ah yes, live very united, in unfailing solidarity, among yourselves and with the Holy See: that is your strength.

I insist especially on your priests , your born collaborators, whether they are Ivorian or come from afar. They form the same presbyterium, the same family. They are sometimes dispersed, in a difficult apostolate. They have a special need to feel your support, your closeness, your friendly presence, your appreciation of their work, your encouragement through a dignified and generous priestly life. And this will also promote vocations.

For I greatly encourage the care you devote to fostering priestly and religious vocations , to providing young people and major seminarians with a formation that gives them a taste for the Gospel, a solid faith, and the desire to respond to the call of Christ and to serve the Church in a selfless way, facing all the needs of Christian communities and also evangelization.

Paul VI said in Uganda in 1969: “You are your own missionaries”. It is more necessary for you. The transition took place at the level of the episcopate: it must be prepared at the level of the priests, even if, as I very much hope, you will be able to have priests placed at your service by other Churches or congregations for a long time to come. nuns. Finally, I will go even further on this “missionary” journey: it is your whole Church which must become one, priests, religious and laity, and the communities themselves, by welcoming, witnessing and proclaiming explicit, with those who still do not know the Gospel, in this country and in other countries of Europe.

4. These attitudes, like the various pastoral works to be promoted, must not cause us to lose sight of the essential, dear Brothers: the presence of Christ among us, who acts with us and through us, insofar as we relate to him our life, our worries, our hopes, in unceasing prayer. Help all your collaborators to keep alive within them this flame of spiritual life , this love of God without which we would only be cymbals ringing.

Precisely when your Ivorian society is rapidly expanding economically and culturally, with all its opportunities, but also the materializing temptations that this entails, it is a question of ensuring a soul for this civilization. And only spiritual people will be able to lead it in a profoundly Christian direction which is at the same time profoundly African.

May Our Lady open our hearts to the Spirit of her Son! Receive my affectionate Blessing.

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana