Oromia, 28 November, 2019 / 2:43 am (ACI Africa).
Weeks after Pope Francis requested prayers for persecuted Orthodox Christians in Ethiopia who were targeted in ethnic clashes in the Oromia region, leaving dozens of people dead, the Catholic Church in country has fulfilled this request and organized for prayers.
“I express my closeness to this beloved church and her patriarch, dear brother Abune Mathias, and I ask you to pray for all the victims of violence in that land,” Pope Francis was quoted as saying November 3, addressing himself to the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
In an interview with ACI Africa, the Vicar Apostolic of Ethiopia’s Jimma-Bonga, Bishop Markos Ghebremedhin confirmed that the Catholic Church had heeded to the Holy Father’s request for prayers saying, “After the Pope’s request, we organized a specific day of prayers and all dioceses prayed for peace not only for the Orthodox Christians but for the entire country of Ethiopia.”
“Cardinal Berhaneyesus who was recently appointed the chairperson of peace and reconciliation in the country communicated officially the day of prayer,” Bishop Ghebremedhin recalled and clarified, “even though most Churches that were destroyed were for the Orthodox Christians, the prayers for peace were held for the entire country.”
“He sent a public message of condolences to those who had been killed in this event and condemned on behalf of the Church such acts warning the young people from being emotional and to have mature way of dealing with issues,” The Ethiopian Prelate further said in reference to the Catholic Church initiative to calm the violence in his country spearheaded by Cardinal Berhaneyesus,
