?A legacy of martyrs – Uganda is called to the challenge of bearing witness
It was with great joy and
happiness that the people of Uganda received the good news that Pope Francis
had scheduled a pilgrimage to Uganda, the Land of Martyrs, from 27-29 November.
It is an honour for the Church in Uganda and for all people of good will to
welcome the Holy Father and join him on this holy journey. On this occasion the
Church in Uganda is delighted to receive the Vicar of Christ, and withgreat
anticipation we are awaiting his message
of peace, mercy and hope. At the numerous gatherings at the selected locations in Kampala, our
capital city, the Church looks forward
to the challenges, to which the Holy Father will call us. For Christ said: “You
will be my witness” (Acts 1:18).
Pope Francis’ visit to Uganda is
a testimony of the living and binding ministry our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted to Peter, when he
said: “feed my flock…. Take care of my sheep” (Jn 21:15-16). The Church in
Uganda draws her consolation from this universal mission of Peter with which,
we, the Bishops and the whole community of the People of God feel strengthened
in our faith and true witnesses of Christ’s light. The programme drawn up for
the Holy Father’s stay in Uganda signifies the vision of his ministry as that
of a “shepherd living with the odour of the sheep”.
Uganda — described by British Prime Minister, Sir Winston
Churchill, in 1907 as the ‘Pearl of Africa’ — enjoys a privileged position
among African countries. It was the first country to have a large number of
canonized saints and it was the first country, in 1913, to have indigenous
priests, including the first indigenous
bishop south of the Sahara, who was ordained in 1939.
Pope Francis is the third Supreme Pontiff to visit Uganda. In
1969, Blessed Paul VI was the first pope to visit Uganda. During
his visit, he challenged the Church in Africa, saying: “You Africans must be
missionaries to yourselves”. This message echoes the words of St Daniel Comboni
who, on becoming the Bishop of Central Africa in 1877, visualised missions in
Africa with his motto to “Save Africa with Africa”.
The Comboni missionaries working
in northern Uganda, motivated by this motto, trained the local catechists Daudi
Okello and Jildo Irwa who, at Paimol in the Archdiocese of Gulu, while on mission to preach the message
of Jesus, were martyred in 1918. These two martyrs added another page of
Christian witness to the history of our country. St John Paul II’s missionary
journey to Uganda in 1993 brought consolation to a country that was
experiencing war and the notorious insurgency of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.
Pope Francis’ visit is a moment
of grace. As a developing country we are looking forward to his message of caring
for our common home as described in his Encyclical Laudato Si’. All
agents of evangelization look forward to receiving the Holy Father’s challenge
to be messengers of joy and to radiate the same joy in the work of
evangelisation as was highlighted in Evangelii Gaudium. Another theme so
dear to the Church’s life and ministry is that of the family. As Christians, we
appreciate the beauty of the family, and we recognize that family life as the
place where we come to learn the meaning and value of human relationships. The
Church in Uganda awaits Pope Francis’ invitation to uphold the traditional
Christian family understanding and values as founded on the relationship
between man and woman: “A man and a woman united in marriage, together with
their children, form a family. This institution is prior to any recognition by
public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it” (CCC 2202).
Cyprian Kizito Lwanga,
Archbishop of Kampala