Pope Francis sent out a warm letter to Nigerians &
Nigerian Priest/Bishops yesterday March 17th
encouraging everyone in the face of the various boko
haram attacks. The Pope’s letter below;
To the Bishops of Nigeria
Dear Brother Bishops, While we walk this Lenten journey
towards the Resurrection of the Lord united with the
whole Church, I wish to extend to you, dear Archbishops
and Bishops of Nigeria, a fraternal greeting, which I
extend to the beloved Christian communities entrusted
to your pastoral care. I would also like to share some
thoughts with you on the current situation in your
country. Nigeria, known as the “African giant”, with its
more than 160 million inhabitants, is set to play a
primary role, not only in Africa but in the world at large.
In recent years, it has experienced robust growth in the
economic sphere and has again reasserted itself on the
world stage as an attractive market, on account of its
natural resources as well as its commercial potential. It
is now considered officially the single largest African
economy. It has also distinguished itself as a political
player widely committed to the resolution of crisis
situations in the continent. At the same time, your
nation has had to confront considerable problems,
among them new and violent forms of extremism and
fundamentalism on ethnic, social and religious grounds.
Many Nigerians have been killed, wounded or mutilated,
kidnapped and deprived of everything: their loved ones,
their land, their means of subsistence, their dignity and
their rights. Many have not been able to return to their
homes. Believers, both Christian and Muslim, have
experienced a common tragic outcome, at the hands of
people who claim to be religious, but who instead abuse
religion, to make of it an ideology for their own
distorted interests of exploitation and murder. I would
like to assure you and all who suffer of my closeness.
Every day I remember you in my prayers and I repeat
here, for your encouragement and comfort, the
consoling words of the Lord Jesus, which must always
resound in our hearts: “Peace I leave with you; my
peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). Peace – as you know
so well – is not only the absence of conflict or the
result of political compromise or fatalistic resignation.
Peace is for us a gift which comes from on high; it is
Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace, who has
made of two peoples one (cf. Eph 2:14). And only the
man or woman who treasures the peace of Christ as a
guiding light and way of life can become a peacemaker
(cf. Mt 5:9).
At the same time, peace is a daily endeavour, a
courageous and authentic effort to favour reconciliation,
to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges of
dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded. In a
word, peace consists in building up a “culture of
encounter”. And so I wish here to express my heartfelt
thanks to you, because in the midst of so many trials
and sufferings the Church in Nigeria does not cease to
witness to hospitality, mercy and forgiveness.
How can we fail to remember the priests, religious men
and women, missionaries and catechists who, despite
untold sacrifices, never abandoned their flock, but
remained at their service as good and faithful heralds of
the Gospel? To them, most particularly, I would like to
express my solidarity, and to say: do not grow tired of
doing what is right!
We give thanks to the Lord for them, as for so many
men and women of every social, cultural and religious
background, who with great willingness stand up in
concrete ways to every form of violence, and whose
efforts are directed at favouring a more secure and just
future for all. They offer us moving testimonies, which,
as Pope Benedict XVI recalled at the end of the Synod
for Africa, show “the power of the Spirit to transform
the hearts of victims and their persecutors and thus to
re-establish fraternity” (Africae Munus, 20). Dear Brother
Bishops, in perseverance and without becoming
discouraged, go forward on the way of peace (cf. Lk
1:79).
Accompany the victims! Come to the aid of the poor!
Teach the youth! Become promoters of a more just and
fraternal society! I gladly impart to you my Apostolic
Blessing, which I ask you to extend to priests, religious,
missionaries, catechists, lay faithful and above all to
those suffering members of the Body of Christ.
May the Resurrection of the Lord bring conversion,
reconciliation and peace to all the people of Nigeria! I
commend you to Mary, Queen of Africa, and I ask you
also to pray for me.
FRANCISCUS PP.

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