At the service of the Church in Equatorial Guinea, Conakry Guinea and Ethiopia

Countries with deep and urgent challenges and needs met with the Dicastery in June.

The two Guineas and the common challenges to the pastoral care of youth and the family

During their visit on 11 and 17 June, both Equatorial Guinea and Conakry Guinea raised the issues of poverty, social and political instability, and the lack of infrastructures in both countries. Unfortunately, all this creates an enabling environment for mass migration of youth and the rise of pseudo-religious groups, which are dangerous and lead many faithful to abandon their Catholic faith.

As the two countries’ population is very young, with an average age of 19 years, both Conferences of Bishops focus on the pastoral care of youth. National days, formation events, participation in International Youth Days and commitment to the ordinary life of parishes are at the centre of pastoral care targeting youth. Preparation to sacraments is an opportunity to promote meeting with the faithful, and such meeting often results in families’ greater engagement in the life of the Church.

Ethiopia: a little herd in need of care and resources

Poverty, migration, wars and uncertainty cause deaths and displaced people and destroy the economic fabric, a situation made even more precarious by the Covid-19 pandemics. The little herd in Ethiopia is not only a minority, but is also persecuted and suffering. The two practices, Oriental and Latin, struggle to live in the country together with their sister Protestant and Orthodox Churches.

The laity are very willing to cooperate with their pastors in the different parishes, in organizations and the ministries they are responsible for, but the lack of resources, facilities and security does not allow them to do much. A pastoral centre that has already been working for a few years makes it possible to regularly gather pastoral agents for a quality catechetical-pastoral formation, so that their “evangelical” action in the different villages can be as effective and long-lasting as possible. Yet, the phenomenon of migration and abandonment of the Christian faith, in favour of other faiths, is increasingly marked and alarming.