Card Filoni: The Church in action in Zambia and Malawi

(Vatican Radio) Cardinal Ferdinando Filoni has been speaking about his recent pastoral visit to Zambia and Malawi. The Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, was in the Diocese of Karonga in Malawi as a special envoy of Pope Francis where he consecrated a new church.

He also met with the Bishops of Zambia and discussed the 125th Anniversary of Evangelization in Zambia during his trip to the African country.

Listen to Lydia O'Kane's interview with Cardinal Fernando Filoni

On his return to Rome he told Vatican Radio that the presence of the Church in Malawi is very important in terms of evangelization, working for the poor, education, and assistance for those who are in need. “We don’t forget”, he said, “in Malawi and Zambia we have a lot of AIDS, people sick with AIDS, so the presence of the Church… is very important.”

Cardinal Filoni went on to say that his presence in Malawi was to find out what was going on in the Church there, “what we can do better in the education also of the seminarians and the permanent formation of the priests, in organization of charitable activities…”

The Cardinal also described his visit to see the Church in action in Zambia as a “very wonderful moment for them and for me too.”

He noted that after over a hundred years of evangelization in these countries, “all the Bishops now are local; they are African… all the priests are from Malawi and Zambia."

Speaking about the celebration of the Year of Mercy in both countries the Cardinal said, “it was very well received, now they have to incarnate what it means, Mercy”. He was referring to tribal problems, ethnic questions and outreach to the poor in these nations. He added that, this Jubilee Year was “an opportunity to reflect on all these aspects.”