Consultations Towards Mauritius’ Recovery “dearest wish” of Country’s Cardinal

“We must manage to listen to each other, to think together, to evoke all the possible hypotheses and above all, to seek the common interest of the country and not our personal interests, whether they are economic or political,” the Cardinal who is the Bishop of the country’s Port-louis Diocese says in the interview with La Vie Catholique.

The member of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spiritans) further acknowledges the fact that organizing consultations is “not easy but it is precisely because it is complicated and a difficult duty to put our heads together.”

In the interview published on the website of his Diocese, the 79-year-old Cardinal who had called for a “sober and fraternal Christmas” in 2020 amid COVID-19 challenges expresses his gratitude for the positive response his call has received from the faithful in the one-diocese nation.

“I am very happy to see all this creativity unfold from the Parishes. There have been new initiatives such as Christmas bazaars or the training of entrepreneurs, among others,” he says and adds, “A bit like during a cyclone, the unexpected shock of COVID-19 awakened what was best in many people.”

To keep the solidarity alive long after the Christmas season, Cardinal Piat proposes a collaborative approach that sees actions “in groups, in teams” and supporting “each other in fraternity when encountering inevitable difficulties, to be able to evaluate the progress made, to learn from it in order to start again in an ever more appropriate way.”

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He also proposes the “frequentation of the Word of God, where we are invited to contemplate the way in which Jesus himself lived and lasted in this solidarity, even in the midst of the worst trials” as another way to keep the solidarity alive.

“I take this opportunity to invite Christians to take up or resume the habit of reading the Gospel together, in small groups of neighbors, friends, colleagues,” the Cardinal encourages and adds, “It sounds simple, of little importance, but there is a real source of courage and joy in going the distance together.”