Advertisement

Your Solidarity “gives us hope”: Mozambique’s Catholic Bishops to Colleagues in Angola, São Tomé and Príncipe

Mozambique’s Catholic Bishops have recognized with appreciation the solidarity of their counterparts in Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe following the latter’s three-day Prayer initiative for peace in the Southern African nation.

In a statement shared with ACI Africa on Wednesday, January 8, members of the Episcopal Conference of Mozambique (CEM) say the spiritual solidarity, which was dubbed Triduum Prayer Initiatives that the  Bishops' Conference of Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe (CEAST) organized is a source of hope and a testament of “unity and communion”.

“Your message dated December 31, 2024, in which you express your solidarity with the Mozambican people and the Catholic Church in Mozambique, once again tested by the pain and anguish caused by widespread violence that threatens peace, encourages us and gives us hope at a time when the post-election crisis is worsening,” CEM members say, referring to the effects of the violence related to the October 9 presidential election.

Mozambique’s Catholic Bishops share their “deep gratitude” to CEAST and the people of God in the two countries, saying the spiritual solidarity “bears witness to the unity and communion of the children of the same Church who, through their prayers and supplications to God.”

In taking time to pray for peace amid violent conflicts, the people of God in Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe “make their own the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties of people today, especially the poor and all those who suffer,” CEM members says.

Advertisement

Street protests erupted before and after Mozambique’s electoral commission declared that the country’s ruling party, Frelimo, had won the October 9 presidential election, extending its 49-year hold on power.

The new opposition party Podemos and its presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, rejected the results that the electoral commission announced. Earlier, other opposition candidates, civil society groups, and observers said the election was marred by fraud

More than 130 have been reported killed in clashes with law enforcement agencies, a Reuters December 24 report indicated, citing civil society monitoring group Plataforma Decide.

On December 24, Mozambique’s Constitutional Council, the country’s top court with the final say over electoral processes, confirmed the victory of the ruling party, Frelimo, which has governed the Southern African nation since 1975.

The opposition leader, Mondlane, who fled the country on October 21 citing threats to his life has reportedly announced that he plans to return to Mozambique on January 9. 

More in Africa

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) of CEAST organized the three-day prayer initiative that culminated in a Vigil for Peace in Mozambique on January 3. 

In his homily during the “Vigil for Peace”, the Executive Secretary of the CCJP of CEAST highlighted the far-reaching consequences of violence in Mozambique and across the globe.

“We pray for Mozambique caught in a spiral of violence. Violence breeds more violence, causing suffering, anguish, and forced migration. Violence is not the remedy for our fractured world,” Fr. Celestino Epalanga said during the January 3 Eucharistic celebration that was held at Our Lady of Fatima Parish of the Catholic Archdiocese of Luanda.

Fr. Epalanga invited Angolans to reflect on the plight of Mozambique’s most vulnerable, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly. 

He noted that non-violence is a choice worth making and that it is not a sign of weakness or passivity.

Advertisement

“It is a powerful tool to build peace and dismantle hatred. Non-violence, when practiced consistently, has achieved remarkable outcomes,” the Angolan member of the Society of Jesus (SJ/Jesuits) further said during the Vigil for Peace on January 3.

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate.