President's message - Christmas 2011 Peace to all people of good will! Glória in excélsis Deo et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis!

Yes, glory be to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will! Unfortunately, there does not seem to be people of good will on earth! For, as we approach the end of year 2011, the many catastrophic situations faced by Africa during the past months come to our mind: socio-political unrest in Côte d’Ivoire, mass influx of refugees from Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt and Sudan into neighbouring countries, very severe drought and famine in the Horn of Africa, floods in several African countries, social unrest and violence in many others!

We have also dealt, across the continent, with very serious problems connected with pandemics, irregular migration, food insecurity, climatic change, violence against children and women, bad governance, corruption. All these natural and man-made catastrophes are recklessly contributing to the spreading of extreme poverty and, therefore, of lack of peace on earth.

Glory be to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will! Caritas, everywhere in the Africa region, is working very hard to counter the negative effects of the above-mentioned catastrophic situations and help eradicate extreme poverty. Caritas social workers and volunteers are putting into practice the mission of Caritas Africa, which is “to bear witness to the Love of God (Acts 1:8) by working for the integral development of the human being with priority attention to the poor and the most destitute.” In so doing, they contribute very effectively to the achievement of the vision of Caritas Africa, which is “to have life in its fullness (John 10:10).” Glory be to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will!

As we celebrate Christmas and pray and worship Jesus, our Saviour, born in a manger under extremely poor conditions, we express our heartfelt gratitude to all those men and women of good will who, within Caritas member organisations of the Africa region as well as of other regions present in Africa, contribute in a very concrete manner to the implementation of the Christmas message and actively participate in the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ among the most vulnerable groups of our society. Glory be to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will! May we all be inspired by the Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Africae Munus (Africa’s Commitment) that Pope Benedict XVI has just signed and handed over to the African continent? In this spirit, let us continue to work closely together in order to fully achieve our objectives while ensuring the dignity of the human being and developing further our partnership principles. May I take this opportunity to invite everybody so that we come to unite not only our voices, but also our minds and hearts, and, thus, try to be closer to what the words of the hymn really mean: “Glory be to God in the highest and peace on earth to people of good will.”

Merry Christmas and Peace to all through the coming year, 2012.

Your brother

+ Francisco João Silota
Bishop of Chimoio, Mozambique
President, Caritas Africa