Maiduguri, 09 July, 2022 / 10:20 am (ACI Africa).
Exposure to means of livelihood by world standards, including physical structures, material riches, and power “must never obscure” the people of God from heavenly values that define the “Church’s life and action”, the Apostolic Nuncio in Nigeria has said.
In his homily during the Episcopal Ordination of Mons. John Bogna Bakeni as Auxiliary Bishop of Maiduguri Diocese in Nigeria, Archbishop Antonio Guido Filipazzi also reflected on Pope St. Paul VI’s Apostolic letter, Creed of the People of God, about the growth of God’s kingdom.
“Christian life and the Church grow not so much because we have at our disposal many material means and structures, abundant riches, a vast culture, power, prestige and fame,” Archbishop Filipazzi said in the homily during the Thursday, July 7 ordination event.
“Indeed, material means are needed,” the representative of the Holy Father in Nigeria said, and added, “But they must never obscure the supernatural dimension of the Church’s life and action.”
The Church, he said, “truly grows if her members grow in faith, which is the knowledge of the unfathomable riches of Christ” and also if her members “grow in hope, which is the expectation and preparation of eternal life.”