Nigerian archbishop pleads for peace in Lenten message
March 15, 2017
The president of Nigeria’s episcopal conference has issued a Lenten message begging for peace, lamenting a new surge of violence in the country.
Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos insisted that “no one has really won a war in this country.” He argued the need for “more genuine dialogue across ethnic, religious, and political boudnaries.”
With Islamic militants raiding towns in the northeast of Nigeria, and militants in the oil-rich Niger Delta region carrying out attacks against foreign corporations, and tribal conflicts festering, the country’s economic situation has grown steadily worse, the archbishop wrote.
Political corruption aggravates Nigeria’s distress, Archbishop Kaigama said. “Sin is rationalized. Violence is institutionalized.”
To renew Nigeria, the archbishop challenged the country’s Catholics to live out their faith. “The beauty of Christianity,” he wrote, “is that it breaks down barriers, demolishes walls erected by ethnic or regional prejudices.”
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Posted by: Randal Mandock -
Mar. 16, 2017 11:58 AM ET USA
It "breaks down barriers, demolishes walls erected by ethnic or regional prejudices." Trump too supports the breaking down of these types of barriers and walls. It does no one any good when Pope Francis and other prelates and politicians conflate Trump's desire to protect the country on the one hand, with the moral evil of racial and tribal bigotry on the other. It's wrong to do so.
