Pope Francis has praised pharmacists for their engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, recalling that they play a critical social role in society. “Pharmacists are like a ‘bridge’ between citizens and the health system”, he said.
His remarks came during an audience on Monday with 15 members of the International Federation of Catholic Pharmacists.
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Church leaders visited the scenes of devastation as a result of the KwaZulu-Natal floods this week. It was the second visit @ArchbishopThabo made to the province since the disaster.
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As World Immunization Week is observed from 24-30 April with the theme “Long Life for All,” the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its vaccine champions continue to support sharing accurate information about vaccines as well as access to vaccines across the globe.
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“Your charism is of flagrant actuality, unfortunately!” Pope Francis told members of “Trinitarian International Solidarity” gathered in the Vatican on Monday.
He said our time “boasts of having abolished slavery, when, in reality, there are too many men and women, even children, reduced to living in inhumane conditions, enslaved”.
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On Tuesday 26 April 2022 the President of the South African Council of Churches (SACC), Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, together with other representatives of the National Religious Forum that has been collaborating for over two years on COVID-19 combat, will conduct a Walk of Witness and joint prayer at some of the flood-affected areas of KwaZulu Natal (KZN).
The religious leaders are also calling for a nationwide moment of prayer by all South Africans wishing to lift these challenges in prayer, wherever they may be – in their workplaces, at home, in their various modes of transportation, to observe a moment’s prayer according to their tradition and faith, using the 15-minutes between 14h00 and 14h15, for a collective nationwide prayer event.
The leaders delegations will use that time to pray with the communities they are visiting. “We would hope that the KZN, Western Cape and Eastern Cape Provincial Governments, as well as national departments of government, especially those seized with addressing the flood disasters that have visited the provinces of KZN and Eastern Cape; and the Western Cape in the form of the devastating fire, would take part in this moment of prayer as they see fit to,” said Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, General Secretary of the SACC.
The religious organisations involved in the Religious Forum include: the South African Hindu Maha Sabha; the Union of Orthodox Synagogues; the Council of Muslim Theologians (Jamiatul Ulama); the Nazareth Baptist Church (Ibandla lamaNazaretha); the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; the Bantu Church of Christ; the Council of African Independent Churches; The Evangelical Alliance; the International Fellowship of Christian Churches; and the South African Council of Churches (SACC), which currently chairs the Religious Forum through General Secretary, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana.
The KZN chapter of the SACC, KwaZulu Natal Christian Council (KZNCC) is the facilitating organisation for this day, where a representative delegation of the Religious Forum will make the Walk of Witness in four groups going to four selected areas. “The Walk of Witness is being undertaken by a broad spectrum of inter-faith religious leaders, working together to emphasise the presence of God at this time of loss and despair in KZN,” said Bishop Malusi.
“It is our intention – through our collective presence – to demonstrate the love of God to all those who need to feel it, walking together through the communities that have been hardest hit by the floods,” he said.
The purpose of this trip is to:
“There are many reports of people saying they are not getting attention and support. We appeal to all affected communities to approach their nearest religious centre, and report their plight, and we shall, through the Pietermaritzburg office of the KZNCC, ensure liaison with the appropriate offices for attention. We all work together on an interfaith and interdenominational basis, regardless of what church or faith community people belong to, or no faith at all.”
The four areas to be visited for this Walk of Witness are listed below, having been selected because church leaders have visited them before at least more than twice:
uMlazi (South of Durban):
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South Africa has been going through a lot in recent times, starting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 – which resulted in high proportions of corruption, to the 2021 July unrest which led to rampant looting and destruction of property which cost the country about R1 billion.
Furthermore, the country has witnessed recent acts of vigilantism in Gauteng which has seen violence erupt in some areas. Archbishop Dr Thabo Makgoba of the South African Anglican Church joins SABC News for this conversation.
Watch the interview below:
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Pope Francis on Thursday received 55 indigenous peoples of the Métis Manitoba Federation from Canada in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.
The Manitoba Métis Community has consistently asserted and protected its rights and identity as a self-governing people, and in recent times has been recognized in Canada as the Manitoba Métis Federation.
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A large group of young Italian pilgrims held a prayer vigil with Pope Francis on Easter Monday evening under the banner: “Follow Me.”
The event marked the first time a large event that was not a Mass was held in St. Peter’s Square since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, over 2 years ago. The prayer vigil was organized by the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), and saw several teenagers share their experience of trials and faith and receive the Pope’s encouragement and blessing.
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As the war wages on in Ukraine and the massacres continue, Pope Francis has appealed for a truce in the war-ravaged nation this Easter.
During his remarks prior to the recitation of the Angelus prayer this Palm Sunday, the Pope exclaimed, “Let the weapons be put down! Let the Easter truce begin.”
The Holy Father told the 65,000 pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that as we turn to the Blessed Mother with the Angelus Prayer, we must remember how the Angel of the Lord himself said to Mary in the Annunciation: “Nothing is impossible for God.”
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As part of an ongoing series on bilateral dialogues, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will host a webinar, “Church, Mission, and the Bonds of Koinonia,” on 27 April that will bring in voices from the Anglican Communion, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and World Pentecostal Fellowship.
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