AFRICA : IVORY COAST : RECOWA FOR PEACE AND LIBERTY

Agenzia Fides report - "It is time to execute our project for the future of the Church of Christ in all of Western Africa", said His Exc. Mgr. Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr, Archbishop of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and President of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa (RECOWA), in his opening speech of the first Assembly of RECOWA, on January 24 in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire (see Fides 24/01/2012).
According to the Cardinal, "the project of RECOWA is that of a Church engaged with all its weight for peace, liberty and development, for the pastoral solidarity that is organic in West Africa. It is the project of a church in the front line against all that dehumanize man. It is the project of a church offering all its children the treasure of the Good News".
Cardinal Sarr concluded urging members of the Conference to nurture a firm hope. "Our assembly is already a sign of the victory of the Resurrected. The walls of separation do not extend unto heaven. Our people expect that we bring them love and dignity, justice and peace, reconciliation and joy. We should not be discouraged by the immensity of the task ahead. In Christ our unity is our force".
In his greeting message to the Assembly, His Exc. Mgr. Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, stressed that the unification of the churches in the region under the umbrella of RECOWA has "the great advantage of treating the call for regional integration not only politically and economically, but also in Church terms". (LM) (Agenzia Fides 25/01/2012)
http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=30858&lan=eng

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