Remembering Pope St. John Paul II, thirteen years on.

The month of April marks Pope St. John Paul II’s thirteenth anniversary. In its audio broadcasts, Vatican News' English Africa Service has been looking at the leagacy of the Pope who died on 2 April.

Festus Tarawalie - Vatican city

Pope John Paul II at Nairobi's resurrection garden

On 19 September 1995 Pope St. John Paul II addressed a huge crowd in Nairobi's "Resurrection Garden." The Pope was in Kenya on the final leg of a three-nation African trip that year.

The evangelizing mission of the Church on the continent

In the address, the Pope speaks about pertinent issues discussed by the African Synod Fathers during their special assembly held in Rome of 1994. He concludes by entrusting the final document of the Synod, "The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesiae in Africa" (sometimes referred to as the Church in Africa document) to all those involved in the evangelizing mission of the Church on the continent: The laity, Catechists, young people, men and women religious as well as priests, deacons and seminarians.

The Synod is over; the Synod has just begun

The Holy Father concluded his address by proclaiming: "The Synod is over; the Synod has just begun." The trip to Africa in September 1995 took him to Cameroon, South Africa and Kenya. The first African synod was held in Rome in the year 1994 on the theme. “The Church in Africa and her evangelizing mission towards the year 2000. You shall be my witnesses.”

You can read the full address of Pope St. John Paul II here.

Listen to the full address of Pope Saint John Paul II