On Arrival in Upper Volta (10 May 1980)

On Saturday, 10 May 1980, the Holy Father arrived in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta, where he greeted all believers in the “unique and merciful God.”

It is with great joy in my heart that I arrive here, in Upper Volta, and that: I greet with respect and sympathy His Excellency the President of the Republic, as well as the high authorities who have come to welcome me there, and who have just welcomed me with such deep cordiality which also expresses, I know, the feelings of the entire Voltaic nation and which touches me so deeply.

With what joy, I repeat, I accepted the delicate invitation of the Government of Upper Volta, which understood so well the purely spiritual purpose of my trip to Africa, and which agreed to organize this all too brief stopover accordingly in his capital. I therefore desire that my first words be to express, with my gratitude, the fervent wishes which I form before Almighty God for this country and its hard-working and proud people, for those who bear the responsibility for it, and for all its citizens. .

I greet all believers. Not only Christians, but those who have in common with them the belief in the unique and merciful God, who have at heart to submit their lives to the Almighty in the Islamic religion or who are animated by religious feelings according to their ancestral traditions.

You will allow me to greet with particular affection, and first of all in the person of my brother Cardinal Paul Zoungrana and of my brothers the bishops of this country, all my Catholic sons and daughters.

I came for you! Before returning to his Father on Ascension Day, Our Lord had ordered his Apostles: “Go into the whole world to bring the Good News!”. Many centuries passed before your dear country received the Gospel, and now in less than a century, among you, the seed has become a great tree; and now the successor of Saint Peter is following in the footsteps of those who brought you the Gospel, the sons of the great Cardinal Lavigerie, the indefatigable bishops such as Monsignor Thevenoud, whom so many of you remember with emotion. And I now meet, heads of your diocesan Churches and successors of the Apostles, given entirely like them to the service of the Lord, sons of Upper Volta, who welcome me to their home, to your home.

To the people of Upper Volta, to its President, to the members of its Government and to the Representatives of the Church who came to welcome me so warmly, I repeat my thanks and my cordial greeting. I also know that many came from Togo; to all of them, my very warm and cordial greeting. Thank you and hello everyone! May the Lord, Almighty God, shower all of you with his blessings!

© Copyright 1980 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana