Interview: Africa’s Expectation for the Second Synod

4 October 2009

Afronline

One of the sixteen African cardinals, Wilfrid Napier, 68 and Archbishop of Durban is sure about it.

“In the near future there will be an occasion for the Catholic Church to reflect and talk about economic themes,” he anticipates.

“This is our expectation, after the Caritas in Veritate social encyclical. In Africa poverty is the main issue, the most urgent. The global crisis has hit heavily“.

The first Synod for Africa took place in a heated period for South Africa. It was April 1994, in the middle of the apartheid’s collapse. The first democratic elections took place on April 27.

Pope Benedict XVI has chosen the issue “The Church in Africa in service of reconciliation, of justice and peace” for the second one, when all the African bishops will be in Rome for a whole month up until October 25.

What are you expectations for this second Synod?

I think that we will have a better and more complete picture of what the Church is actually doing in Africa, especially in conflict or post-conflict situations where many attempts to strengthen relations for reconciliation are taking place. My second expectation is on media: I hope they will realise that Africa is at a stage of positive actions too, so that they will stop telling disasters’ stories only. By the end, as it happens at every meeting, the Synod will be an important moment to get to know one another. For us, African bishops, it will be an occasion to know what is happening in the other countries, to share experiences and information.

What role does the Catholic Church have in the reconciliation processes in Africa?

Thanks to the experience we had here in South Africa during and after the apartheid, other African bishops come to us for help. For example, just two weeks ago two South African bishops and some of the experts of the Denis Hurley Peace Institute of Pretoria went to Sierra Leone to help local people in the reconciliation and justice process – the ten-year-lasting war for the resources control that caused 200,000 deaths ended in 2001. I think that in different situations in Africa churches are doing good jobs by creating structures that help promote these processes on a local level.

Is it true that there were very few communities involved in this second Synod preparation?

The problem is that we didn’t have enough time. The Synod’s documents have only been given to those bishops who are directly interested in it. The consultation into communities should have taken place before, during the preparatory stage. But the Pope has chosen the reconciliation topic because it has emerged from the Episcopal conferences in the continent.

It is often heard that they should focus on the sects multiplication in Africa too. Do you think they will talk about it even it is not the chosen topic?

We cannot talk about everything during the synod. For example, someone could say that we will not talk about poverty in Africa, which is the most urgent problem for us and that has become even more worrying after the global economic crisis. The focus on reconciliation emerged from Episcopal conferences to be discussed at an universal church level. But I am sure that there will be an occasion for the Church to focus on economic topics, particularly on the poverty issue. The economic crisis has hit heavily.

Do you think that the topic of economic justice will also be treated during the Synodal works?

Often African conflicts are about resources. They break out because of the presence of many actors who fight to grab raw materials, and its benefits do not go to local populations. I am sure we will talk about it. We will discuss the issue of growing poverty, of the equal use of resources and about the possible Church’s responses too.

Which are the main challenges that South Africa will have to face?

We have experienced deep changes. During the synod I will explain how relationships between whites and blacks have changed since 1994. The daily life behaviour of people is unrecognizable compared with that of 15 years ago.  Mainly I see optimism among young people. They say “we are all South Africans, we are all together, we roll up our sleeves and work together to build our country”. The bad side of the coin is AIDS. In South Africa cures and services for ill people have improved, but the number of deaths is still high, which is unacceptable.

By Emanuela Citterio – Afronline