Rome - With a call to courage, Pope Benedict XVI ended a three-week long synod on Africa Sunday, telling attendees to seek the courage to find peace. "Coraggio, Afrika, stand up!" appealed the pope, telling the continent to seek "a peace that opens everyone of good will to overcome religious, ethnic, language and cultural differences."
In its final document, the synod urged Africans to work together for the continent's political-economic future. It added that the negative consequences of Africa's history of colonialism and the slave trade could no longer be used to excuse Africa's lack of development.
In effect, Africans must now set challenges for themselves and create conditions that respect human dignity.
Benedict repeated comments from an encyclical released in July, in which he called for "social globalization," a policy of promoting advancement and development for all countries, not just a chosen few.
He opened the synod October 4 with a strong appeal against modern- day colonialism and exploitation of the continent's wealth.
The day before, a bishop's synod had criticized discriminatory immigration policies of the industrialized nations. Those "restrictive" policies and accompanying immigration laws go against basic universal rights and the teachings of the church, synod members said.
About 200 bishops discussed the future of Africa at the synod. One of them was Ghanese Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He was appointed to the position Saturday to replace the retiring Cardinal Renato Raffaele Martino.
