Mozambique peace continues amid stifling poverty

Twenty years after the end of Mozambique's civil war, a Catholic missionary has praised the rise of a "peace mentality" but says poverty is still a major problem.

"People don't want any more war," Comboni missionary Fr. Ottorino Poletto told Aid to the Church in Need.

However, the people are "desperately poor," he said. "They even starve if the rains don't come." In 1992 the Catholic Church successfully mediated a peace agreement between Mozambique's Liberation Front faction and the National Resistance faction, ending a civil war that began in the late 1970s. Fr. Poletto, a native of Padua, Italy, has overseen different social and pastoral projects of the Comboni Missionaries and of the Archdiocese of Beira in southern Mozambique since 1990.

He said democracy in the country is "not particularly well-developed." It is "essentially ruled" by the Liberation Front party, which "wants to eclipse the others."

However, the Catholic Church is hard at work in the country. Its projects include elementary and secondary schools for 9,000 pupils, boarding schools for 2,000 girls and boys, and three large clinics and five missions.

The Comboni Missionaries' work in education, health, agricultural development and pastoral efforts benefit about 350,000 people. Its clinics treat about 65,000 people a year, including 1,500 AIDS patients.

Their literacy programs serve about 3,000 adults.

Their work is supported by about 1,000 volunteers and employees. Aid to the Church in Need supports many Comboni projects, including catechist training and church and chapel renovations.

The Comboni Missionaries in Fr. Poletto's region serve an area of about 9,700 square miles through 450 stations at small Christian parishes.

Fr. Poletto is no longer alone. During his first years in Mozambique, he was the only priest in the region. Today, ten priests are in pastoral work.

Read more: http://www.ewtnnews.com/catholic-news/World.php?id=5905#ixzz22QKs3Feg

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