Acta Apostolicae Sedis - Commentarium Officiale312

they did, entire peoples were able to give glory to Our Father in heaven. This

was a case of Africans evangelizing other Africans. In evoking their glorious

memory, I greet and encourage their worthy successors who work today with

the same selflessness, the same apostolic courage and the same faith as their

predecessors. May God bless them generously! During this period, Africa was

also blessed with numerous saints. I will content myself with naming the

martyrs of Uganda, the great missionaries Anne-Marie Javouhey and Daniele

Comboni, as well as Sister Anuarite Nengapeta and the catechist Isidore

Bakanja, without forgetting the humble Josephine Bakhita.

We find ourselves presently at a historical moment which coincides from

the civil standpoint with regained independence and from the ecclesial stand-

point with the Second Vatican Council. During this time the Church in Africa

contributed to and accompanied the building of new national identities and,

at the same time, sought to translate the identity of Christ along its own

ways. As the hierarchy became increasingly African following Pope Pius

XII's ordination of Bishops from your continent, theological reflection began

to ferment quickly. It would be well for your theologians today to continue to

probe the depth of the Trinitarian mystery and its meaning for everyday

African life. This century will perhaps permit, by God's grace, the rebirth, on

your continent, albeit certainly under a different and new form, of the pre-

stigious School of Alexandria. Why could we not hope that Africans today

and the universal Church might thereby be furnished with great theologians

and spiritual masters capable of contributing to the sanctification of those

who dwell in this continent and throughout the Church? The First Special

Assembly of the Synod of Bishops helped to point out the directions to be

taken, and it brought out, among other things, the need to appreciate more

deeply and to incarnate the mystery of the Church-as-Family.

I would now like to suggest some reflections about the specific theme of

the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops, namely:

reconciliation, justice and peace.

According to the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, " the Church, in

Christ, is in the nature of sacrament - a sign and instrument of communion

with God and of unity among all men and women ".6 To carry out her mission

well, the Church must be a community of persons reconciled with God and

among themselves. In this way, she can proclaim the Good News of reconci-

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6 Lumen gentium, 1.