Pope Francis expresses his closeness to the people of Mozambique through their Bishops

Fr Bernardo Suate – Vatican City

Archbishop Inacio Saure, I.M.C., of Mozambique’s Archdiocese of Nampula, described the encounter with the Holy Father as one held in a very cordial and fraternal atmosphere.

“We reiterated our request to the Holy Father, which is also the request of the Mozambican people, asking him to continue praying for peace in our country,” Archbishop Inacio said in an interview with Vatican News. The Archbishop is the President of the Conference of Bishops of Mozambique (CEM).

Recalling Pope Francis’ visit to Mozambique

The ad Limina visit to the “Successor of Peter, Pope Francis is a renewal of our apostolic ministry and manifests our communion with the universal Catholic Church,” explained Archbishop Inacio, who also recalled the memorable visit of the Pontiff to Mozambique in 2019.

“The meeting took place, in fact, in an excellent atmosphere, very fraternal, even synodal, and the Holy Father, in his spontaneity, preferred that the Bishops intervene directly in dialogue with him,” the Mozambican prelate narrated.

The challenge of training priests

Archbishop Inacio said that one of the challenges that the Mozambican Episcopate shared with Pope Francis was that of training priests. He emphasised that in Mozambique, there are many vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life, “but at the same time, we also face financial difficulties in building adequate space to accommodate and welcome these young people of goodwill,” he told Vatican News.

Throughout the meeting, Pope Francis was said to have been very attentive to the concerns of the Mozambican prelates. Archbishop Ignacio also highlighted the urgency of completing the construction of the second philosophical seminary in the Archdiocese of Nampula.

Pope Francis when visited Mozambique in 20219

A message of hope and closeness

For the president of the CEM, the great message that the Successor of Peter gave to the Church and the people of Mozambique was the message of hope because, in addition to training priests in seminaries, the Bishops also briefed the Pope about the problem of war, especially in Cabo Delgado, located in the northernmost province of Mozambique. The Bishops thus reiterated their request to the Holy Father, which is also the request of the Mozambican people, to continue to pray for peace in the country.

“Throughout, Pope Francis showed great interest and paid close attention to what we were saying. We realised that he is, in fact, following the situation in our country, is well informed and that he is with us. He gave us hope and that we can count on the universal Church’s prayers and solidarity,” said Archbishop Inacio.