Hervé LECOMTE, Secretary General of the OIEC shares the message from the Pope, signed by Cardinal Parolin, to the first African Congress of Catholic Education on the reception of the African Education Pact.

On 7-10 December 2023, the “First African Congress of Catholic Education was held in Abidjan (Ivory Coast). Restoring the African Education Pact in the spirit of Pope Francis”. On that occasion, the Pope sent a message (reproduced below) signed by the Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. At the conclusion of the Congress, an official statement was issued by Bishop Philippe Rukamba and Abbot Bernard Lorent, co-presidents of the International Religions and Society Foundation, organisers of the event together with the Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar. The Congress was addressed by H.Exc. Mgr. Giovanni Cesare Pagazzi, Secretary of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, spoke at the Congress with a communication on education in Africa and ideas for building African pedagogies.

We publish in one of our translations from French the text of the message – signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin – sent by Pope Francis to Bishop Philippe Rukamba and priest Bernard Lorent, copresidents of the International Religions and Society Foundation (Kigali), on the occasion of the first African Congress of Catholic Education being held in Abidjan from today, Thursday 7 December, until Sunday 10.

His Holiness Pope Francis joins you in heart and thought as you gather for the first African Catholic Education Congress on the reception of the African Educational Pact. The Pope is pleased to know that this Educational Pact, which you presented to him last 1 June in the Vatican, was not the end of a work undertaken over many years by the International Religions and Society Foundation, but marked a new stage in your commitment to the promotion of education in Africa.

His Holiness therefore applauds the reception of the African Education Pact and hopes that it will increasingly become “a local reality, the result of reflections made from its own context and resources cultural, and […] attentive to the educational needs of the territory” (Address of Pope Francis to the delegation of Promoters of the African Educational Pact, 1 June 2023).

Africa is not sheltered from the crisis that the education system is going through today, which has become, as in other places, too selective and elitist (cf. Address to the participants at the World Education Congress, 21 November 2015), aimed at forming only the intelligence and not the whole person. Faced with this situation, Catholic Education, enriched by the African Educational Pact, will be able to offer a renewed, more open and more inclusive formation, creating in young people a beautiful harmony between thought and action. It will also be able to help form a generation that draws on the socio-cultural values of the African continent, without giving in to the temptation of withdrawal into itself, but capable of dialogue with other cultures and religions.

This objective can only be achieved to the extent that Catholic Education, while imbuing young people with their African identity, does not lose sight of its primordial objective, which is to offer everyone “the Christian proposal, namely Jesus Christ as the meaning of life, the cosmos and history” (Address to Participants at the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Catholic Education, 13 February 2014). It is therefore important that all those involved in Catholic Teaching be animated by the desire to communicate the Gospel with their lives, demonstrating coherence and adopting a pedagogical style that favours the human and spiritual growth of students.

The Holy Father invites each of the actors to work so that Catholic Education can prepare young people not for the spirit of competition, which leads to selfishness, but for the spirit of community and solidarity. May they be able to make positive and constructive choices, to be the decision-makers of tomorrow, having at heart the building of a society that is ever more fraternal and at the service of all, with respect for the common good. Indeed, quality education is a sign of hope and a solid basis for the peaceful coexistence that Africa needs today.

The Pope encourages you in your desire to give new impetus to Catholic Education in Africa and thanks you for the work you do every day with dedication. He invokes upon you the graces of the Holy Spirit to give you strength in your delicate mission in favour of the formation of young people in Africa. His Holiness imparts the Apostolic Blessing to you with all his heart.

from l’Osservatore Romano, 7-12-2023 https://www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2023-12/quo281/nuovo-slancio-all-educazione-cattolica-in-africa.html

Read the OFFICIAL FINAL DECLARATION OF THE FIRST AFRICAN CONGRESS ON CATHOLIC EDUCATION, and other related articles in the Global Compact on Education Journal – Dec/2023 edition. This Journal was shared in four languages.

English: Global Compact on Education Journal (December/2023).

Spanish: Revista del Pacto Educativo Global (Diciembre/2023).

Italian: Journal del Global Compact on Education (Dicembre /2023).

Portuguese: Jornal do Pacto Educativo Global (Dezembro/2023).