To the Bishops of Other African Countries (3 May 1980)

On Saturday, 3 May 1980, after addressing the Bishops of Zaire, the Pope spoke to the Bishops of other African countries meeting in Kinshasa.

I now turn to the Bishops who have come from other African countries.

Dear brothers in Christ: This meeting with you gives me great joy. I really want to get to know each of your countries, each of your churches, on the ground. I would have liked to widen the circle of my visits. Perhaps among you there are some of those who had invited me with insistence. Converging and well-balanced reasons have advised not to go beyond the planned program this time. I am truly sorry, especially since your Christian communities profess a very fervent and spontaneous devotion to the Pope and they especially deserved to be encouraged, be it because of their vitality or because of the trials they are undergoing. I also feel sorry for me, who would have appreciated this new testimony. But I consider myself obligated by each of these invitations, to which I will try to honor, with God's help, in due time. In the meantime, tell your brothers, your priests, your men and women religious, your laity, that the Pope loves them and blesses them with great affection.

I know that Africa is by no means uniform, that the peoples and tribes are diverse, that the traditions are particular, that the establishment of the Catholic Church is also varied. Sometimes it happens that you find yourself in the situation of a small flock that must preserve its Christian identity and, at the same time, bear witness to it.

However, part of the pastoral problems that I have discussed with your brothers in Zaire are also valid for you: continuing evangelization, deepening the Christian spirit, Africanization, the solidarity of the Bishops among themselves, with the other local Churches and with the Holy See, the dignity of the life of priests, religious, your presence in their lives, the question of vocations, family problems, human promotion, etc. A magnificent mission is entrusted to all of you with God's help: to contribute to building a civilization in which God has his place and in which, consequently, man is respected. If I had to leave a slogan to all the members of your Churches, I would tell them: stay very united.

Thanks for your visit! May the peace of Christ be with you always!

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