Welcome Ceremony, Ivory Coast

On Saturday, 10 August 1985, on his arrival at the Abidjan Airport, Ivory Coast, the Holy Father responded to the welcoming ceremony by addressing all the dignitaries.

Mr. President,
Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Brothers and Sisters of Côte d'Ivoire,

1. Your invitation was insistent, and I was impressed by your diligence in completing the Cathedral of Abidjan by the time of my third journey to the African continent. It was therefore very willing that I gave in to your requests. With real joy, I return to your country, briefly, five years after my first pastoral visit of which I retain a vivid and happy memory. It is with all my heart that I thank you, my Brothers in the Episcopate, Cardinal Bernard Yago and the other bishops of this country, for having invited me to consecrate the cathedral of your great city. I express my gratitude to the authorities and the people of the Ivory Coast for the warm welcome given to me.

The words you have spoken, Mr. President of the Republic, touch me deeply. Not only do they show your full consideration for the teaching of the Church, which seeks to promote peace, freedom, respect for people and their lives everywhere, but I am happy because they express the ideal of all the Ivorian people and the will of its leaders. By having me back in your country, you are allowing me to rediscover this people whose recent history you have marked. And with you, I am happy to greet your compatriots, the men and women who live in this dynamic country. I extend to them my warmest wishes for their personal happiness, so that each and every one may experience the development of their own abilities and their family life, despite the difficulties of a crisis of international dimensions that has not spared your region.

2. My presence among you today has the pastoral character of my entire pilgrimage on African soil; and it is a specifically religious act that leads me to make a stop in Abidjan. But I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate to our brothers of other Christian confessions our willingness to seek unity and fraternal cooperation, and to express to all those who identify with other religious traditions outside of Christianity, my respect and the desire of the Catholic Church to maintain with all relationships based on trust. I know that the Ivory Coast is a welcoming country and that tolerance is real between groups of different traditions and origins. Within the State, it is important that all pool their loyal efforts to face the necessary tasks, so that the future of a young people can be foreseen with certainty and so that tomorrow the worries and doubts of today will be overcome.

It is my desire that all may take part in the harmonious development of society, offering each the possibility of seeing his usefulness recognized in the diversity of his functions. To young people in particular, I express the hope that they will be well prepared for their upcoming responsibilities and will be well received in active life. I believe that most of them share the conviction that the future will be happy and worthy of man only if the essential values ​​of justice, of the freedom of individuals and groups, of respect for life, inspire all the activity of society. And, moreover, true progress presupposes that both are together dedicated to the common good, that they live in fraternal and concrete solidarity with those most in need. In this spirit, a people can contribute to consolidating the peace to which all aspire; a country can show its sense of cooperation and mutual aid with those who do not have the same facilities as itself. I know that it is the desire of the Ivory Coast to participate in all the efforts for peace and progress that the international community is carrying out, especially on this continent.

3. Upon my arrival, I would like to address Catholics in particular and renew all my encouragement in the vitality of their communities. In you, I greet the Church rooted in Africa, faithful to the best of your ancestral heritage, and rich in the universal contribution of Christianity made accessible thanks to the generosity of brothers from the most ancient Churches, who have come to bear witness to it. You have heard, in the name of the Gospel itself, the call to develop the human and spiritual qualities of each person. With all that is precious in the Christian life, generously bring your contribution to the education of youth, so important on this continent, so that the irreplaceable qualities of its inhabitants may develop as happily as possible. I greet with predilection those among you who respond to the vocation of offering their lives completely to the service of God and their brothers, with their commitment to the priestly or religious life.

To all the lay people who gather with their pastors to deepen their experience and their formation as responsible adults, I express my confidence to assume both the tasks necessary for the life of the Church itself and the qualified presence of Christians in professional life. In various regions, some movements are organizing themselves to help their members acquire the skills and maturity that the community needs. All of you, know how to draw from the good news, which is the gift of God, the fundamental reasons to love and serve your brothers who are waiting to be recognized in their dignity and supported in their hope for the future. Do not cease to nourish with the strength of the Gospel your participation in the various tasks that you carry out in the society of your country.

To the many personalities who have chosen to be present, to all of you who are receiving me today, I express my cordial thanks for your presence. At this moment I am also thinking of all your compatriots whom I will not be able to meet, and I assure in particular of my affection those who are undergoing the ordeal of illness or who are affected by other sufferings; I would like to be able to bring each one comfort and reasons for hope. To each family, to each person, I express with all simplicity my sympathy and my good wishes.

May God bless this country!
 

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