Leo XIV: The family is the first place where we receive love and support we need

In a video store aimed at the participants of the Third Congress of the Pan -African Catholic Network of Theology and Pastoral, Pope Leo XIV recalled the fundamental role of the family, “the first place where we receive the love and support we need.”

The event is held from August 5 to 10 under the title “Walking together in hope as God’s Church-Family in Africa” and takes place at the headquarters of the Catholic University of Western Africa, in Abiyán, Ivory Coast.

The main objective of this meeting is to promote communication between the global south gathering theologians, pastoral, lay and religious leaders to reflect, share experiences and project a pastoral from an African perspective.

At the beginning of his message, released on August 6, the Holy Father thanks in particular the work of the organizers of the meeting and ensures their prayers for the participants, who during these days reflect on the future of the Church in Africa.

Within the framework of the jubilee, Pope Leo XIV stressed the vital role that hope plays in our earthly pilgrimage. “Faith and theology provide the basis to know God, while charity is the life of love we enjoy with Him,” he said.

However, he explained that “it is through the virtue of hope that we want to achieve the fullness of this happiness in heaven. That is why he inspires us and sustains us to get closer to God even when we face the difficulties of life,” he added.

The Holy Father urged the Church to be “a lighthouse of hope for nations” that must face different difficulties in Africa, while calling fraternity and appealed to the responsibility “to take care of each other.”

“The family is usually the first place where we receive the love and support we need to move forward and overcome the evidence we face in life,” he said below.

In this context, he encouraged to continue building “the family of local churches” in African countries “so that there are support networks available to all our brothers and sisters in Christ, and also of society in general, especially those in the peripheries.”

At the end of his message, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the importance of “recognizing the unity between theology and pastoral.”

He warned that “we must live what we believe” and therefore urged the participants of the meeting to “work together to implement pastoral programs that demonstrate how church teaching help open the hearts and minds of people to the truth and the love of God.”