John XXIII, John Paul II, and the Quest for Peace in Africa

The two newest saints have a deep history with Africa, and their teachings offer guidance today and for years to come.

These past weeks leading up to the canonization of Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II, have provided a wonderful opportunity to revisit and reflect on their contribution to the Church and the world. This week , at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar organized a two-day event with the theme, “The Church in Africa: From the Second Vatican Council to the Third Millennium”. The conference was a chance to celebrate the contribution of the two Popes to the Church in the continent of Africa.

Pope John Paul II is assisted by South African President Nelson Mandela at the Johannesburg International Airport in 1995 at the start of the pope's first official visit to the country. (CNS photo/Patrick De Noirmont, Reuters)

The two newest Saints have a deep history with Africa. While Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff in history to set foot on the continent when he visited Uganda in 1969, it was Pope John XIII who created the first African Cardinal, Laurean Rugambwa (1912-1997), in 1960. Pope John Paul II made numerous trips to Africa, including three visits to my own country, Kenya, within a span of fifteen years.

However, what has caught my attention, especially in light of recent and ongoing events on the African continent, is what I and my fellow African citizens can learn from these two great Saints as we seek to advance justice and peace.

During the month of April, Africa and the world have been commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. The tragic events in Rwanda are still very fresh for many in the Central African country. The words “Never again” have been used repeatedly, in expressing the commitment that humanity will no longer remain as spectators in the face of the evil of war.

Regrettably, violence which has been described by various international agencies as “genocidal”, erupted late last year in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. And just this week, the world has witnessed what is being described as the “Massacre of Bentiu”, in which hundreds of civilians were killed in a church, a mosque and a hospital in the South Sudanese town of Bentiu.

The current conflict in South Sudan, pitting rebel forces under the command of Dr. Riek Machar,  the former vice president, against government troops and President Salva Kiir, began in mid-December and was precipitated by internal power struggles within the ruling party, the Sudanese People Liberation Movement . An agreement on the cessation of hostilities signed by the two parties and brokered by the Inter Governmental Authority on Development  on the January 23rd, failed to hold, even after weeks of mediation talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Watching a country—whose birth I was old enough to witness—disintegrate so soon, along with the human suffering, death and destruction being experienced, is a sad experience.

I recently turned to Pacem in Terris, the encyclical of Pope John XXIII on “Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty”, given on April 11, 1963. Now, the 1960s is significant in various ways in the history of the African continent, besides the many events in the life of the Church. More than thirty African countries gained independence during that period (1960-1969). A few weeks after Pacem in Terris was given, the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor to the African Union (AU) was formed, to promote unity and solidarity of African states in order to achieve a better life for its people.
The first thing that stood out for me in Pacem in Terris is that Pope John XXIII laid out the rights but also duties, beginning with the right to life:

Man has the right to live. He has the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food,  shelter, clothing, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. (par.11)

This is an important message to put out to the warring parties in the conflicts in South Sudan, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other hot spots across the world. War is a direct threat to innocent life, resulting in bodily harm (with many women suffering sexual violence) and compromising or even ending the provision of necessary social services, while also damaging or destroying existing infrastructure.

As many African countries celebrate fifty years of independence this decade, many young people are disillusioned as a result of high unemployment rates in their countries, with the associated social problems. The few who manage to secure employment often find themselves under-employed and have to endure difficult working conditions. 

Pope John XXIII still addresses this situation today, as he did more than fifty years ago:

A further consequence of man's personal dignity is his right to engage in economic activities suited to his degree of responsibility. The worker is likewise entitled to a wage that is determined in accordance with the precepts of  justice. This needs stressing. The amount a worker receives must be sufficient, in proportion to available funds, to allow him and his family a standard of living consistent with human dignity. (par. 20)

The need to make a living consistent with human dignity, and the scarcity of such work and opportunities on the African continent, has led many young people to make harrowing trips across dangerous deserts and rough seas. These journeys have sometimes ended disastrously in loss of hundreds of lives as witnessed off Lampedusa, Italy, and elsewhere, while the treatment of those detained by immigration authorities has been documented in many cases as inhuman. Speaking on the right to emigrate and immigrate, the “Good Pope” taught:

When there are just reasons in favor of it, he must be permitted to emigrate to other countries and take up residence there. The fact that he is a citizen of a particular State does not deprive him of membership in the human family, nor of citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men. (par. 25)

One of the most amazing things about the current political situation in Rwanda, twenty years after the genocide, is that there are many more women in the national parliament than there are men. The head of the African Union Commission is a South African woman, Dr. Dlamini-Zuma. Africa now has three female heads of state—in Liberia, Malawi and the Central African Republic where Mrs. Catherine Samba - Panza was elected as an interim president, earlier this year, as part of the ongoing efforts to resolve the crisis there. As foreseen by Pope John XXIII, “women are gaining an increasing awareness of their natural dignity. Far from being content with a purely passive role or allowing themselves to be regarded as a kind of instrument, they are demanding both in domestic and in public life the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons” (41).

He then posed a question, and offered an answer—a prayer—which to my mind will inspire hope and determination for all who work for a better world, here in Africa: “Will the African in his human dignity be the path towards a just and peaceful future of this continent? It is my hope that he will. Long live Africa!”
May St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II intercede for peace in Africa and peace in the world. Amen. 

Reference: http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Blog/3102/john_xxiii_john_paul_ii_and_the_quest_for_peace_in_africa.aspx