Monsignor Aurelio Gazzera, coadjutor Bishop-Elect of the Diocese of Bangassou in the Central African Republic (CAR). / Credit: ACNACI Africa, Mar 6, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).Monsignor Aurelio Gazzera, coadjutor bishop-elect of the Diocese of Bangassou in the Central African Republic (CAR), has promised to promote dialogue with various rebel groups operating in the country, noting that he seeks to be a "symbol of peace" in his leadership. In a Monday, March 4 report by the Catholic pontifical and charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, Gazzera, who was appointed bishop on February 23, said CAR remains "very difficult and unstable" as the situation is still "precarious in large parts of the country.""I will try to listen to everyone and, with my limited powers, to be a symbol of peace," Gazzera said.Monsignor Aurelio Gazzera, coadjutor Bishop-Elect of the Diocese of Bangassou in the Central African Republic (CAR). Credit: ACNHe added, "I will do every...
Monsignor Aurelio Gazzera, coadjutor Bishop-Elect of the Diocese of Bangassou in the Central African Republic (CAR). / Credit: ACN
ACI Africa, Mar 6, 2024 / 16:20 pm (CNA).
Monsignor Aurelio Gazzera, coadjutor bishop-elect of the Diocese of Bangassou in the Central African Republic (CAR), has promised to promote dialogue with various rebel groups operating in the country, noting that he seeks to be a "symbol of peace" in his leadership.
In a Monday, March 4 report by the Catholic pontifical and charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, Gazzera, who was appointed bishop on February 23, said CAR remains "very difficult and unstable" as the situation is still "precarious in large parts of the country."
"I will try to listen to everyone and, with my limited powers, to be a symbol of peace," Gazzera said.
He added, "I will do everything I can to continue the dialogue with the various rebel groups, and I will talk with those who are giving expression — although of course in the wrong way — to their expectations of the government and the international community."
Armed groups have continued to wage attacks against innocent civilians in CAR.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says, in a Feb.13 report, that while the security situation in the country is improving, there are recurrent clashes between conflicting parties leading to the displacement of people and disruption to access to livelihoods.
Gazzera, who is widely known for his peace efforts in the country, said in the ACN report that it was his responsibility as a religious leader to seek peace.
"As a priest, as a pastor, and as a bishop, everything that hurts or affects my brothers and sisters also hurts me. So I had the responsibility as a priest — and now I have it even more as a bishop — to look after and protect the people in my care," the member of the Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCD) said.
"The shepherd not only accompanies his sheep but also defends them from dangers," said the bishop-elect who was serving as the director of Caritas in CAR's Catholic Diocese of Bouar at the time of his episcopal appointment.
Reacting to his appointment, the Italian-born bishop-elect said, "On the one hand I am anxious, but on the other hand, I feel a deep trust in God."
"The strength to be a bishop does not come from myself, but from the Lord. I did not seek this ministry. Jesus said: 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you'," Gazzera said, and added, "I know that I am neither worthy nor capable of it, but He knows more about me than I do, and He has more confidence in me than I have in myself. And a great multitude of people are praying for me and rejoicing in this new gift in my life."
Pope Francis waves while traveling by boat in Venice, Italy, for a meeting with young people at the Basilica della Madonna della Salute on April 28, 2024. Earlier in the day he met with inmates at a women's prison. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).Pope Francis opened his one-day visit to Venice on Sunday morning with a meeting with female inmates where he reaffirmed the importance of fraternity and human dignity, noting that prison can be a place of new beginnings. "A stay in prison can mark the beginning of something new, through the rediscovery of the unsuspected beauty in us and in others, as symbolized by the artistic event you are hosting and the project to which you actively contribute," the pope said to the female inmates gathered in the intimate courtyard of the Women's Prison on the Island of Giudecca. Pope Francis left the Vatican by helicopter at approximately 6:30 in the mo...
Pope Francis prays in front of the tomb of St. Mark the Evangelist inside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice on April 28, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNARome Newsroom, Apr 28, 2024 / 09:35 am (CNA).Pope Francis had a full slate of events Sunday during his day trip to Venice, a trip that tied together a message of unity and fraternity with the artistic patrimony of a city that has been a privileged place of encounter across the centuries. "Faith in Jesus, the bond with him, does not imprison our freedom. On the contrary, it opens us to receive the sap of God's love, which multiplies our joy, takes care of us like a skilled vintner, and brings forth shoots even when the soil of our life becomes arid," the pope said to over 10,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Mark's Square. Framing his homily during the Mass on the theme of unity, one of the central points articulated throughout several audiences spread across the morning, Pope Francis reminded Christians: "Remaining ...
Prayer house at San Simeone, Italy, September 2012. / Credit: Courtesy of Ricostruttori nella preghieraRome, Italy, Apr 28, 2024 / 06:00 am (CNA).Across Italy there are houses of prayer run by the Ricostruttori (Reconstructors) community, a Catholic movement dedicated to people who are far from the Church but attracted to spirituality, particularly Eastern meditation and Buddhist practices. The Reconstructors was founded in 1978 by Jesuit Father Gian Vittorio Cappelletto. "During the postconciliar period, the Church was faced with the need for new forms of evangelization and apostolate, to reach out to people who were drifting away," Don Roberto Rondanina, priest and superior of the Ricostruttori, explained to CNA. "It was a time when Eastern meditation, Hinduism, Buddhism, the New Age ... were beginning to spread in Europe." "Father Cappelletto, who lived in Turin, sought to understand the meaning of this 'flight to the East' and felt the need to find new forms of sp...