THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD


Be agents of peace, Pope tells leaders of fragile new nation


Fredrick Nzwili In Nairobi


WITH CHURCHbells ringing, drums sound- ing and horns blowing at midnight, the region of Southern Sudan became the Republic of South Sudan last Saturday. Churches became centres of jubilation as villagers celebrated with songs, dancing and wrestling matches to welcome the world’s 193rd state. “Grant internal reward of happiness to all our people and friends who have shed their blood for the sake of justice and peace,” said Archbishop Paolino Lukudu Loro of Juba during prayers at the proclamation ceremony held in Juba city, the new country’s capital. Nine days before, the Catholic Church ini-


tiated prayers on the theme of tolerance and harmonious inter-ethnic and inter-religious relationships. Pope Benedict XVI sent a delegation led by Cardinal John Njue of Kenya, who told an excited congregation at St Theresa’s Cathedral, Juba, on Sunday that they must be part of the nation-building. He urged the leaders to be instruments of peace. The Vatican declared its readiness to estab- lish full diplomatic ties with Africa’s newest nation. Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Dominique Mamberti met a delegation from the Sudanese parliament, led by Ahmed Ibrahim el-Tahir, speaker of the lower house, on 7 July. The archbishop told them: “Peace, reconciliation and respect for universal rights (especially religious liberty) are the funda-


mental pillars” on which the coexistence of the new and the old state must be built. The country’s population is nearly 9.7 mil- lion people, but most of them live on less than US$1 a day. It has the worst maternal mor- tality rate in the world, most children under 13 are not in school and 84 per cent of women are illiterate. However, Bishop Rudolf Deng, president of the Sudan Catholic bishops’ conference, said people were very optimistic. “There are weaknesses, but a lot of people are ready to understand that it takes sacrifice, hard work and unity in order to rise out of these long pieces of deprivation and oppression,” he said. Bishop Daniel Adwok, an auxiliary in


Khartoum, said the ruling National Congress Party was as yet divided on plans to enforce Sharia law more vigorously in Sudan, which would lead to worsening oppression of minor- ity groups including Christians. He told the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need, that he had called for calm in the nearby region of Kosti, where 18,000 people had amassed awaiting repatriation to the south. The independence marks the climax of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended a 21-year civil war. The fighting between the mainly Arab and Islamic north and the mainly Christian and animist south killed more than 2 million people. In January this year, 98 per cent of Southern Sudanese voted for the split in a referendum. The Catholic Church played a key part in bringing peace to the oil-rich south. It worked


Interfaith cardinals defend Assisi gathering


SENIOR CURIAL officials launched a media offensive last week in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, to defend Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to hold a major inter- faith meeting, writes Alessandro Speciale. The unusual step comes after surprise, and in some circles hostility, following Pope Benedict’s announcement in January. Shortly after the meeting was announced, a group of prominent Italian conservative Catholics wrote an appeal to the Pope asking him not to go to the meeting, which is to take place in Assisi, St Francis’ home town, on 27 October. According to the Vatican analyst Andrea


Tornielli, there are “concerns” among those who believe themselves to be close to the Pope and who feel that the Assisi gathering “is not


28 | THE TABLET | 16 July 2011


in line with [Benedict XVI’s] pontificate or with his guidelines”. Indeed, 25 years ago, when Pope John Paul II organised the first interfaith gathering in Assisi, the then-Cardinal Ratzinger had been considered one of the critics of the initiative on the grounds that it might encourage rel- ativism and syncretism. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s


Secretary of State, published on 3 July a long article under the title “From Assisi 1986 to Assisi 2011: the meaning of a journey”; he was followed by other cardinals including Cardinal William Levada, head of


the


Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Council for Interreligious Dialogue, Cardinal


Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Council for Culture; Cardinal Peter Turkson, head of the Council for Justice and Peace; and Cardinal Kurt Koch, head of the Council for Christian Unity.


Cardinal Levada in his article tackled the


charge that the gathering would compromise the Church’s identity. “Why”, he asked, “did Pope Benedict think to go on pilgrimage to Assisi … if he was so careful about the possible misunderstandings generated by the gesture of his blessed predecessor?” Quoting a 2002 interview with the then-Cardinal Ratzinger, Cardinal Levada added:


“When we as


Christians journey towards peace following St Francis’ example, we must not fear of losing our identity: it’s just then that we find it.”


A man waves South Sudan’s national flag as he attends the Independence Day celebrations in Juba. Photo: CNS/Thomas Mukoya


with other Christian groups to broker dia- logue, it supported ordinary people on the ground through relief aid delivery and opened many schools during the war, becoming a major provider of education. Bishop Deng said the Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan would remain united, but with two secretariats. “We will be like Ireland … Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland belong to one conference.” Sudan’s Episcopal (Anglican) bishops set


out three priorities for their Church: achieving peace and non-violence by promoting the rule of law, which includes assisting in medi- ation and offering trauma counselling, promoting unity by reducing tribalism, and promoting equitable development through decentralisation. It said it planned to expand their network of clinics and schools while the Government was in its infancy and intensify cultivation to increase locals’ food security.


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