Vatican City, Mar 5, 2010 / 12:49 pm
Pope Benedict XVI met with the bishops of Uganda this morning in the Vatican on the occasion of their “ad Limina” visit to the Holy See. He urged them to be strong in renewing evangelization in the east African country and resisting "the seduction of a materialistic culture of individualism."
The President of the Uganda Episcopal Conference, Bishop Matthias Ssekamanya, began the audience at noon on Friday with an address in which he reported that the Church in Uganda has had "some success" since the bishops' last visit to the Vatican. But, he added, "we have many challenges to meet for the spiritual, pastoral and material needs of our people."
The Holy Father addressed some of these concerns in his discourse, calling on the bishops to continue to make efforts “in the service of a more profound evangelization”of Africa, which was a major theme of the Synod of African bishops last October.
“The power of the word of God and the knowledge and love of Jesus cannot but transform people’s lives by changing for the better the way they think and act,” explained Pope Benedict.