Pope Francis Has A Message For Nigerian Politicians

Pope Francis on Wednesday January 1st 2014 identified peaceful coexistence as the only solution to the crisis in some parts of Nigeria.

The Catholic Pontiff, said this in his message at the celebration of the World Day of Peace which is an annual event of Catholic faithful worldwide.

The message was read by the Archbishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Most Rev Adewale Martins, at the Holy Cross Catholic Church, Lagos.

He said:

“It is easy to realise that fraternity is the foundation and pathway of peace

When we have the value of fraternity, a feeling of brotherhood, love and care for one another, many of our problems would not be there.

Our fraternity is based on the fact that we are all made on the likeness and image of God.

Our brotherhood is not based on any factor other than we are all children of one God.

What is to be done is to get back to the roots to identify ourselves and recognise and deal with ourselves as brothers and sisters that we are.

It will go a long way to bring peace back into the world.

We are concerned by the various types of hardship, marginalisation, isolation and various forms of pathological dependencies which are currently on increase.

This kind of problems can be overcome only through the rediscovery and valuing of fraternal relationships in the heart of families and communities.

Also in the sharing of joys and sorrows of the hardships and triumphs that are a part of human life.”

In his own New Year message, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, also charged Nigerian politicians to be mindful of their choice of words to avoid overheating the polity.

Onaiyekan said the use of words like “capture” in the political lexicon, would in no small measure contribute to overheating the polity.

-The Trent