2014-11-18 12:18:00

Regional Conference of Bishops in West Africa to deepen discussions from Synod on the Family


Next week, on 26 November 2014, the Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde will meet to deepen the conclusions of the recently held Extraordinary Synod on the family.

On Tuesday, 11 November, the Bishops of Senegal, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde while on their Ad Limina Visit, were received by the Pontifical Council for the Family.

After being greeted by the Dicastery’s President, Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, Cardinal Théodore-Adrien Sarr, Archbishop of Dakar, spoke and recalled that the Episcopal Conference of these four African countries will meet on November 26th to discuss and reflect on the Extraordinary Synod, with the aim of starting their preparation for the Ordinary Synod.

"I recognize—said the Cardinal—that the Synod that ended last October was more intent on collecting the current ideas and echoes with respect to the family throughout the world than making decisions; but we in Africa, especially in the sessions of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa, have for a long time already been supporting the need to fight to back the family, for if we want its image to remain unchanged and to continue being attractive, we must all work together firstly for the preservation of its deepest meaning."

 

The Cardinal then stressed how ideas from the West concerning the family "should make the people of Africa reflect and lead them to an original interpretation, based on the different cultures that have always animated the continent. For us Africans the family is indeed very important; it has a significant place in society and is lived in a particular way."

Archbishop Paglia, after pointing out that the meeting of different cultures is always an enrichment for everyone, then pointed out that in Africa the sense of living together is still strong and should be upheld, but that at the same time it is necessary to carefully avoid giving in to the temptation of tribalism or ethnicism.

Finally, the Bishops present also noted the weight today, in the globalized culture, of the ideological pressure with respect to contraception and homosexual unions. In fact, while appreciating the work of the Extraordinary Synod, they have seen the fruit of its work distorted by the media in Africa, as it was made known to the public. In Cape Verde, for example, the media caused enormous difficulties for the Christian faithful by announcing that the Synod had accepted same-sex marriage. All hope that at the next General Synod a way will be found to give the world a true picture of the issues that the Assembly will discuss and adopt.

Souce: Pontifical Council for the Family.

e-mail: engafrica@vatiradio.va








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