Angolan bishops challenged to confront legacy of violence

Bishop Leopold Ndakalako of Menongue told his fellow Angolan bishops that they had a responsibility to heal the lasting effects of war and poverty that continue to affect their country.

In a homily during the bishops plenary assembly, Bishop Ndakalako challenged his peers to “heal these wounds, to touch suffering with the hands of Christ, and to announce peace and hope to the world”.

He said that the legacy of poverty and division from the 27-year civil war that followed the end of Portuguese rule in 1975, which left nearly one million dead, still weighed on the population.

“We, today, are sent to a land that suffers, where the wounds of war, poverty, exclusion, and marginalisation remain open and bleeding,” Ndakalako said, calling for clergy to “instil courage, transform their inner selves, and renew their hope. Our people cry out for justice, for peace, for dignity.”

He continued: “Our mission is to announce that the kingdom has already begun, that the risen one walks alongside us, that the grace of God is present in our lives and operative amid tribulations.”

Amid mourning for the late Cardinal Alexandre do Nascimento, who died in Luanda aged 99 on 28 September, Pope Francis said that Angola’s “illustrious prelate” had cared for his flock “during troubled and difficult times”, offering “an expression of the merciful face of Jesus, the Good Samaritan of humanity”.

“His faith in Christ and hope in eternal life made him a courageous and free man, capable of directing his steps for the common good, including collaborating with this apostolic see in his zeal for the poor and needy, as he guided the direction of Caritas Internationalis,” Francis said in a telegram offering his condolences.

Nascimento was ordained a priest in December 1952 and a bishop in August 1975, serving for many years as Archbishop of Luanda. John Paul II made him a cardinal in 1983 and he was the oldest member of the College of Cardinals at the time of his death.

State tributes came from Angola’s President João Lourenço, who said the country had lost “one of its most distinguished sons, a good man who devoted a large part of his life to passing on values and principles for a life of dignity, forgiveness and respect for others.”

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal, who studied alongside Nascimento in a law school, called him “a notable Angolan personality and a figure in the Catholic Church” who had lived “a very intense life of almost a century, as a theologian, philosopher and humanist”.

The Patriarch of Lisbon Rui Valério gave thanks for “all the graces that have been poured out through his tireless work for the Church and service to society”.

Angolan bishops recently joined demands from civic groups for the government to address the growing number of children who receive no education. Provision of basic education is part of “what is essential for citizens”, the bishops said in a statement.

“There are thousands of children outside the school system. We know that in the previous constitution children were an absolute priority. And we cannot build the future of the nation without the education of children.”

They said that education was “an imperative priority, because without it, you will be governed by untrained violent illiterates”.

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