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Residents of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa in Kenya, led by religious women, have held a peaceful procession, through the city, in a bid to draw attention to the importance of peaceful campaigns and peaceful general elections due in August this year. 

The procession that was themed, “Peaceful and Credible Elections: Leaders of Integrity,” was organised by the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK) and was flagged-off by Archbishop Martin Kivuva of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa. The Archbishop was accompanied by Fr Gabriel Dolan of Haki Yetu, a Human Rights Organisation based in Mombasa.

The Mombasa residents marched from the city’s Holy Ghost Cathedral to the Star of the Sea Primary school.

According to Archbishop Kivuva, the walk was meant to encourage residents to promote peace and to ensure that citizens do not fall prey to the machinations of corrupt politicians bent on fomenting violence in the country as happened after Kenya’s 2007 general elections. 

Kenya’s post 2007/2008 general election degenerated into ethnic violence in which between 800 to 1 500 persons are said to have lost their lives. Many were injured while hundreds upon thousands were internally displaced. 

“The electorate should detest and refuse to be used by politicians. The electorate should reject, at the ballot box, any politician who inflicts fear in people,” Archbishop Kivuva said. 

The Archbishop Kivuva made the remarks when he spoke to the Nairobi-based CISA in a phone interview, after the event. He has since urged women in Kenya to be ambassadors of peace during political campaigns that officially started nationwide on 28 May.

The Mombasa prelate further called upon the electorate to “identify leaders who want to lead us, irrespective of their parties because many a time political parties have let us down.”

The Archbishop encouraged Kenyans to scrutinise aspiring candidates and, “Vote for individuals with integrity. Those you know their past and present. If they were thugs, they will always be thugs. Let’s identify and elect good leaders to serve us,” Archbishop Kivuva said. 

The Archbishops is also the Vice Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops' Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC).

(CISA/Vatican Radio)
Email: engafrica@vatiradio.va

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IMAGE: CNS/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters

By Junno Arocho Esteves

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The mystery of God's relationship with humankind is revolutionary in that Christians can look to him without fear as children to a loving father, Pope Francis said.

In teaching the Lord's prayer, Jesus invites all Christians "to have the courage of calling God with the name 'father,'" the pope said June 7 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

"This is the great revolution that Christianity ingrains into the religious psychology of man. The mystery of God who always fascinates us and makes us feel small but no longer frightens us, he doesn't crush us, he doesn't distress us," the pope said.

With temperatures in Rome hovering slightly above 80 degrees, the hot and humid weather did little to keep the estimated 15,000 pilgrims from singing and waving as Pope Francis greeted them on his popemobile.

The pope occasionally stopped to kiss several babies whose heads were draped in cloth to protect them from the sun.

In his talk, the pope reflected on the theme of God's fatherhood as a source of hope for Christians as conveyed in the prayer of the "Our Father."

While some may be more inclined to refer to God with a title that is "more respectful of his transcendence," he said, the word "father" implies a trustful relationship "like a child to a father, knowing that we are loved and cared for by him."

Referring to the parable of the prodigal son, the pope said God loves his children "not in a human way because there is no father in this world who would behave like the protagonist in this parable."

"God is a father in his own way: good, defenseless in the face of man's free will, capable only of conjugating the verb, 'love,'" the pope said. "What an unfathomable mystery is a God that nourishes this kind of love towards his children!"

It is for this reason, he added, that St. Paul chose not to translate the word "father" into Greek and instead uses the Aramaic word, "'Abba,' a term that is even more intimate than 'father' and that someone may translate as 'pop, dad.'"

The pope said that although men and women "can be far away, hostile or even profess ourselves as being 'without God,'" God is never far from humankind.

"When we need help, Jesus doesn't tell us to give up and close in on ourselves, but rather to turn to the father and ask him with confidence," he said.

Before concluding, Pope Francis asked pilgrims to contemplate on the difficulties they face in their lives before leading them in praying the "Our Father."

"Let us think about these problems and needs in silence. Let us also think about the father, our father, who cannot be without us and who is watching us at this moment," he said.

Pope Francis also said he would participate in the "One minute for peace" initiative June 8, a moment of prayer starting at 1 p.m. on the third anniversary of the prayer service held at the Vatican with the late Israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"In our time, there is a great need to pray -- Christians, Jews and Muslims -- for peace," the pope said.

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Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju.

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