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Catholic World News News Feature

Papal appeal for suffering Africa April 28, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI called the attention of the faithful to the sufferings of Africa during his midday audience on Sunday, April 27.

After leading the Regina Caeli prayer, which replaces the Angelus during the Easter season, the Holy Father mentioned the “endless tragedy” in Darfur as well as the recent outbreak of violence in Burundi as situations that “cause intense suffering and keen concern.”

While the civil war in Darfur and the resulting flood of starving refugees have drawn worldwide attention, the renewed fighting between government forces and rebels in Burundi has attracted less public notice. The office of the apostolic nuncio in that central African country was damaged by artillery last week in fighting around the nation’s capital, Bujumbura. (The building was unoccupied at the time and there were no casualties.)

Pope Benedict also mentioned Somalia as a nation whose people have been “oppressed for too many years now under the weight of brutality and misery.” Somalia has lacked a functioning central government for over a decade; the nation’s territory is controlled by competing warlords, while the people live abject poverty.

The Pontiff asked for prayers on behalf of the people of these and other suffering African countries. He asked international leaders to help those people make their voices heard. And he exhorted the politicians holding power in the troubled countries to honor their spoken commitments to the cause of peace.