Pope Francis’ message to the Church in Zim

We can give praise to God for the authentic witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus given by the Church in Zimbabwe, which flourished early in the Christian history of southern Africa. Your predecessors in the episcopate, joined with their priests, religious and lay co-workers — many of them missionaries from faraway countries — spent their lives so that the faith might take root and flourish in your land.

Catholic hospitals have taken care of the infirm for many decades, offering physical and psychological healing. Many vocations to the priesthood and religious life have come from your land, and these vocations continue. For all these graces, and despite every challenge, our prayer of thanks rises to God like an evening sacrifice.

The Church in your country has stood fast with her people both before and after independence, now also in the years of overwhelming suffering as millions have left the country in frustration and desperation, as many lives have been lost, so many tears shed. There you showed how the crisis is both spiritual and moral, stretching from colonial times through the present moment, and how the “structures of sin” embedded in the social order are ultimately rooted in personal sin, requiring of all a profound personal conversion and a renewed moral sense enlightened by the Gospel.

Christians find themselves on all sides of the conflict in Zimbabwe, and so I urge you to guide everyone with great tenderness towards unity and healing: this is a people both black and white, some richer but most exceedingly poorer, of numerous tribes; the followers of Christ belong to all political parties, some in positions of authority, many not.

But together as the one pilgrim People of God, they need conversion and healing, in order to become ever more fully “one Body, one Spirit in Christ” (cf. Eph 4:4). Through preaching and works of the apostolate, may your local Churches demonstrate that “reconciliation is not an isolated act but a lengthy process by which all parties are re-established in love — a love that heals through the working of God’s word” (Africae Munus, 34).

While Zimbabweans’ faithfulness is already a balm on some of these national wounds, I know that many people have reached their human limit, and do not know where to turn. In the midst of all this, I ask you to encourage the faithful never to lose sight of the ways in which God is hearing their supplications and answering their prayers, for, as you have written, he cannot fail to hear the cry of the poor. The future of the Church in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole greatly depends on the formation of the faithful (cf. Ecclesia in Africa, 75). Together with holy priests, the Church needs zealous, well-formed catechists who will work with clergy and laity, so that what the Church believes is reflected in the way her people live in society.

Support the many generous religious brothers and sisters who sanctify the country with hearts undivided in love for God and for his people. Show particular concern for the preparation and clear guidance of young Catholics desiring Christian marriage, opening up to them the richness of the Church’s moral teachings on life and love, thus enabling them to find true happiness in freedom as mothers and fathers.
(Excerpts of a message from Pope Francis to members of the Bishops’ Conference of Zimbabwe on their recent visit to the Vatican).

Pope Francis
Vatican City