VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXV - # 54   
   DATE 17-03-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Pope Expresses his Nearness to the Bishops and People of Nigeria   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    Pope Expresses his Nearness to the Bishops and People of Nigeria   
   Vatican City, 17 March, 2015 (VIS) - Pope Francis has written a letter to the   
   Bishops of Nigeria ensuring them of his nearness to all those in that country.   
   Although Nigeria has one of the strongest economies in all of Africa, it is   
   facing new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism that tragically   
   affect the society as a whole. The letter, published today, is dated 2 March,   
   2015. Following is the full text of the letter:   
   While we walk this Lenten journey towards the Resurrection of the Lord united   
   with the whole Church, I wish to extend to you, dear Archbishops and Bishops of   
   Nigeria, a fraternal greeting, which I extend to the beloved Christian   
   communities entrusted to your pastoral care. I would also like to share some   
   thoughts with you on the current situation in your country.   
   Nigeria, known as the ''African giant'', withits more than 160 million   
   inhabitants, is set to play a primary role, not only in Africa but in the world   
   at large. In recent years, it has experienced robust growth in the economic   
   sphere and has again reasserted itself on the world stage as an attractive   
   market, on account of its natural resources as well as its commercial   
   potential.   
   It is now considered officially the single largest African economy. It has also   
   distinguished itself as a political player widely committed to the resolution   
   of   
   crisis situations in the continent.   
   At the same time, your nation has had to confront considerable problems, among   
   them new and violent forms of extremism and fundamentalism on ethnic, social   
   and   
   religious grounds. Many Nigerians have been killed, wounded or mutilated,   
   kidnapped and deprived of everything: their loved ones, their land, their means   
   of subsistence, their dignity and their rights. Many have not been able to   
   return to their homes. Believers, both Christian andMuslim, have experienced a   
   common tragic outcome, at the hands of people who claim to be religious, but   
   who   
   instead abuse religion, to make of it an ideology for their own distorted   
   interests of exploitation and murder.   
   I would like to assure you and all who suffer of my closeness. Every day I   
   remember you in my prayers and I repeat here, for your encouragement and   
   comfort, the consoling words of the Lord Jesus, which must always resound in   
   our   
   hearts: ''Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you''.   
   Peace ? as you know so well ? is not only the absence of conflict or the result   
   of political compromise or fatalistic resignation. Peace is for us a gift which   
   comes from on high; it is Jesus Christ himself, the Prince of Peace, who has   
   made of two peoples one (cf. Eph 2:14). And only the man or woman who treasures   
   the peace of Christ as a guiding light and way of life can become a peacemaker   
   (cf. Mt 5:9).   
   At the same time, peace is a daily endeavour, a courageous and authentic effort   
   to favour reconciliation, to promote experiences of sharing, to extend bridges   
   of dialogue, to serve the weakest and the excluded. In a word, peace consists   
   in   
   building up a ''culture of encounter''.   
   And so I wish here to express my heartfelt thanks to you, because in the midst   
   of so many trials and sufferings the Church in Nigeria does not cease to   
   witness   
   to hospitality, mercy and forgiveness. How can we fail to remember the priests,   
   religious men and women, missionaries and catechists who, despite untold   
   sacrifices, never abandoned their flock, but remained at their service as good   
   and faithful heralds of the Gospel? To them, most particularly, I would like to   
   express my solidarity, and to say: do not grow tired of doing what is right!   
   We give thanks to the Lord for them, as for so many men and women of every   
   social,cultural and religious background, who with great willingness stand up   
   in   
   concrete ways to every form of violence, and whose efforts are directed at   
   favouring a more secure and just future for all. They offer us moving   
   testimonies, which, as Pope Benedict XVI recalled at the end of the Synod for   
   Africa, show ''the power of the Spirit to transform the hearts of victims and   
   their persecutors and thus to re-establish fraternity'' .   
   Dear Brother Bishops, in perseverance and without becoming discouraged, go   
   forward on the way of peace . Accompany the victims! Come to the aid of the   
   poor! Teach the youth! Become promoters of a more just and fraternal society!   
   I gladly impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I ask you to extend to   
   priests, religious, missionaries, catechists, lay faithful and above all to   
   those suffering members of the Body of Christ.   
   May the Resurrection of the Lord bring conversion,reconciliation and peace to   
   all the people of Nigeria! I commend you to Mary, Queen of Africa, and I ask   
   you   
   also to pray for me.   
      
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    Other Pontifical Acts   
   Vatican City, 17 March 2015 (VIS).-The Holy Father appointed Archbishop Giorgio   
   Lingua, apostolic nuncio to Irak and Jordan, as apostolic nuncio to Cuba.   
      
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