Synod's Kenyan Delegation visits with Kenyans in Rome

Kenyan delegation to the just concluded Second Synod for Africa, led by Cardinal John Njue had the opportunity to meet with the Kenyan community living in Rome.

At a dinner hosted on Saturday evening by Her Excellency Anne Belinda Nyikuli, Kenyan Ambassador to Italy at her residence in EUR, Cardinal Njue appreciated the good work done by the Ambassador and her staff in Italy and for the hospitality accorded the Kenyan delegation during the Synod.

Welcoming the delegation to her residence, her Excellency the Ambassador thanked and praised the catholic leadership in Kenya and prayed for more guidance in their leadership for the people in our country.

On Sunday after the formal closure of the Synod, the Cardinal led the Kenyan delegates to meet over 100 Priests, Religious men and women and laity at St. Peter’s College.

Fr. Jack Wainaina, chairman of the group, thanked the bishops for their time and prayers for the students and people who live and work in Rome. He said that though we may not be endowed with many things, as Africans and as Kenyan, we are rich in faith and humanity.

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Second Synod for Africa concludes

“Courage, Get up African continent, the land that welcomed the Saviour when as a child he had to take refuge with Joseph and Mary in Egypt!”

These were the words spoken by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican in Rome as he concluded the II Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops.

Accompanied by Cardinal Francis Arinze, Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of South Africa and newly appointed President of the Pontifical Council for justice and Peace Cardinal John Turkson, together with all the Synod delegates, the Holy Father concluded the special assembly sending the pastors back to their flock in Africa with a message of hope.

Echoing the words of the Gospel about the cure of the blind man Bartimeus by Jesus, he said Africa had suffered for too long from the slavery of famine and diseases. “It is time to arise and to walk in the light that Christ provides,” he said.

He Termed the synod as carrying a message of hope for Africa, hoping that the deliberations and the outcome would achieve true reconciliation, justice, and that agents of evangelization would be true salt of the earth and light of the world.

The colourful liturgy that was animated by choirs from Nigerian and Ethiopian, among others, concluded three weeks of intense deliberation, culminating with a release of a message by the Synod fathers, which urged Africans to rise from the times when Africa was described as ‘a dark continent to a new dawn where it must be a continent of light and hope’.

With the celebration, the synod fathers return to their respective countries and dioceses. A council of 15 people that was elected towards the end of the synod, together with the Synod secretariat will work on the final product of the synod for the Holy Father to exalt later.

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Africa's Special council named

Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi, and the president of the Kenya Episcopal conference, is among 15 members of the Special Council for Africa of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, Secretary-General of the Synod of Bishops, revealed the names of the council members of which, 12 were elected by the Assembly for Africa of the synod, while His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI appointed three.

The other member members are:

Cardinal Wilfred Fox Napier, archbishop of Durban, South Africa; Cardinal Francis Arinze, retired prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments; Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana, president of the Association of Episcopal Conferences of Western Africa; Cardinal Theodore-Adrien Sarr, archbishop of Dakar, Senegal, first vice president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar; Archbishop Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo; Archbishop Norbert Wendelin Mtega of Songea, Tanzania; Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria; Archbishop Simon Ntamwana of Gitega, Burundi, president of the Association of Episcopal Conferences for Central Africa; Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda, Cameroon; Archbishop Odon Marie Arsene Razanakolona of Antananarivo, Madagascar; Bishop Youssef Ibrahim Sarraf of Le Caire of the Chaldeans, Egypt; Bishop Maroun Elias Lahham of Tunis, Tunis; Bishop Edmond Djitangar of Sarh, Chad; Bishop Francisco Joao Silota M. Afr. of Chimoio, Mozambique, second vice president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar.

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Vatican: Ghana's Cardinal Turkson gets top post

Peter Kodwo Appiah Cardinal Turkson, Archbishop of Cape Coast, Ghana has been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He succeeds Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino, who goes on retirement.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace promotes justice and peace in the world in accordance with the Gospel and the social teaching of the Catholic Church.

The announcement of Cardinal Turkson’s appointment was made on Saturday, October 24, by Rev. Fr. Federico Lombardi, Director of the Vatican Press Office during a Press Conference when Cardinal Turkson was about to present the propositions of the Synod of Africa to journalists accredited to the Holy See’s Press Office, in Rome.

Cardinal Turskon told the journalists that he accepts the appointment with all humility and thanked the Holy Father for having offered him the opportunity to serve the Church in this capacity.

The new President of the Justice and Peace Council was born on 11th October 1948 in Ghana. He was ordained a Priest on July 20, 1975. In 1992 he was appointed Archbishop of Cape Coast. The late Pope John Paul II made him a Cardinal on October 21, 2003. He took part in the April 2005 Conclave that saw the election of the present Pope- Benedict XVI.

With this appointment Cardinal Turkson will have to move to the Vatican.

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