The third Pan-African Catholic Jubilee on Theology, Society, and Pastoral Life opened August 5 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, bringing together the continent’s largest assembly of African Catholic theologians, pastors, lay leaders, and others.
A landmark gathering
Under the theme “Journeying Together in Hope as a Church Family of God in Africa,” the landmark gathering features a wide range of participants, including scholars, pastors, laity, and ecumenical partners.
The Pan-African Catholic Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN), which organized the event, states on its website that participants share a common hope for the future of the Church and society in Africa: “This hope is built on the conviction that the different challenges and opportunities in Africa today offer the Church in Africa and God’s people the opportunity to act differently and courageously drawing from the gift of faith to change permanently the direction of history in Africa and break the cycle of suffering, and dependency through institutional resilience, practices and ethics that promote abundant life.”
The Congress comes at a particularly crucial moment for African Catholics, coinciding with three major ecclesial events: the Catholic Church’s celebration of the 2025th anniversary of Christianity, the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, and the universal Church’s entry into the third phase of the synodal process.
According to Sister Agnes Sory, co-convener of the Congress, the gathering provides a unique opportunity for the African Church to contribute its distinctive voice to the global conversation on faith, hope, and reconciliation. This comes at a time when the world faces numerous challenges, including international conflicts, persecution of Christians, artificial intelligence, and new forms of communication that risk trampling human dignity.
Sory told CWR that “national, regional and international conflicts, growing persecution of Christians, the development of artificial intelligence with the risk of human dignity being trampled underfoot by the globalization of society, and the emergence of new forms of communication,” are some of the topics the Congress has to address.
“The African Church undoubtedly has something to put on the common table of reflection for the world Church,” she said.
African palaver model
She said the Congress will highlight the traditional African dialogue model known as the “African palaver” as a framework for decision-making within the African Church. This approach integrates all voices, beginning with the most vulnerable, creating spaces for respectful discussion and collective wisdom.
Much like the ancestral gatherings under the palaver tree where communities resolved conflicts and shared wisdom, the Congress, she said, aims to embody these principles of peace, beauty, and truth-seeking.
She told CWR that the palaver tree symbolizes peace and reconciliation, embodying the conviction that compromise and change are possible because “that’s what makes us human,” offering the global Church a model of dialogue that emphasizes listening, respect, and communal discernment.
Beyond tokenism
Sr. Prof. Sory said that in a deliberate effort to move beyond mere representation, the Pan-African Catholic Jubilee Congress has structured its five-day program to amplify the voices and contributions of young people, women, and local leaders.
The assembly, she said, features stories and testimonies of missionary projects that have changed lives across Africa, with dedicated sessions for exchange and discussion ensuring these perspectives directly influence the outcomes.
For instance, Leonard Josaya from Malawi will share stories of how his Building Bridges Initiative Malawi is integrating spiritual conviction with economic empowerment. Through initiatives such as digital evangelization, beading workshops, and vocational training for youth with disabilities, the initiative is nurturing a generation that both believes and builds.
Marthina Mlumun Akighir of Nigeria will illustrate how Catholic digital influencers can collaborate to build communities of faith; Denis Kioko Wakine of Kenya will share how his Jitegemee foundation is fostering self-dependency through farming, education, and natural talents, and Sierra Leone’s Samuel Eugene will speak about a Christian approach to waste recycling.
As Sr. Prof. Sory notes, this approach reflects the African wisdom that “one hand cannot wash the back,” emphasizing that the Church’s mission requires the active participation of all its members, particularly those working on the existential peripheries of society.
African Church offers distinctive perspective
Sr.Prof.Sory said the Congress presents the universal Church with a distinctive African perspective on synodality, which is rooted in Vatican II teachings, African ecclesiology, and cultural traditions.
This approach, she explained, emphasizes the Church as a “Family of God” and incorporates insights from Ubuntu, a southern African philosophy that emphasizes shared humanity, interconnectedness, and compassion.
She says that embracing the synodal palaver model and fostering communion amid cultural and ethnic diversity, the African Church demonstrates how listening to all voices—especially young people, women, and the vulnerable—can enrich the entire Church’s understanding in addressing contemporary global challenges.
Those challenges were noted in a video message yesterday from Pope Leo to the Congress. “As you well know,” he said, “Africa, like every other part of the world, faces its own set of particular difficulties. When faced with these challenges and the perception that things do not change, it is easy to become despondent. However, it is precisely the role of the Church to be the light of the world and a city set on a hill, so as to be a beacon of hope for the nations.”
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Synodality, good when it’s African, but bad when it’s German ?
Well, just judging from past performance…
Yes. “Synodality” as an ecclesial framework for gaining multi-faceted insight is in itself neither good nor bad. The orthodoxy or heterodoxy of synodality is relative its implementation in specific context towards specific ends. There is no basis for reasonable doubt re the orthodoxy of the mainstream of the African episcopate. Tragically, the same cannot be said re the German episcopate.
Good catch….Words matter. The African event is billed as a “Congress,” but then confused in the article as a case of “synodality”–a loaded term.
Three points:
FIRST, Sr. Prof. Sory too-innocently misspeaks to a broad and abused audience. As background, she wrote her dissertation on “The Principle of Participation in Government in Religious Institutes: a theological-canonical Approach to Canon 633 CIC/83” (https://pactpan.org/press-releases/sister-agnes-sory-religious-and-scholar/).
SECOND, the Catholic Church is not a “religious institute” writ large. Nor is it an “inverted pyramid” (Pope Francis) where diocesan bishops are temporarily (?) cast in a primary role to only “facilitate,” and then to “compile, consolidate, and synthesize” whatever the cat drags in.
Too bad the legitimate “listening” role devolves into institutional permanence within a flipped Church where the process IS the message. As fluid synodality got out of hand, finally the “hot button issues” were lifted out and assigned to about a dozen Study Groups now scheduled to report their “expert” essays in December.
Especially including Study Group #9 for “Theological criteria and synodal methodologies for shared discernment of controversial [controverted?] doctrinal, pastoral, and ethical issues.” Theologians and methodologies replace the Magisterium? Does the Mystical Body of Christ now look forward to reading how to unscramble a rainbow omelet, or not?
THIRD, the African Congress is actually a good model on what Cardinal Ratzinger called for as early as the 1980s.
He distinguished “communio” within the permanent context and constitutional foundation of the perennial Catholic Church (as clarified by the Second Vatican Council in “Lumen Gentium,” Chapter 3). He used this term when he reflected on the loss of the “ecclesial assembly”—or “communio”—at Trent. In response to the Protestant crisis, clarity on Church teachings and the restoration of the sacramentally ordained priesthood (“differing in kind as well as degree,” Lumen Gentium) as more than a seeming “cult-minister” (Ratzinger’s term), but as a bearer of sacramentality through Holy Orders, also led to an unfortunate separation of the laity from the clergy—the loss of communio—”the problem of the laity, which arose at this time and still haunts us today.” The “original meaning of the word ‘ecclesia’—that is, a ‘coming together’.” So, today, how for the Church to be fully charismatic and institutional, both? (“Successio Apostolica,” as Chapter 2 in Ratzinger, “Principles of Catholic Theology,” Ignatius, 1982/Ignatius 1987).
SUMMARY: The Church significantly rests institutionally on the sacramental Apostolic Succession—which cannot be cross-dressed as a Western-style democracy, nor even as a confused mongrel of some sort. St. John Paul II implicitly touched on the problem of content over process”…the Church’s Pastors have the duty to act in conformity with their apostolic mission, insisting that THE RIGHT OF THE FAITHFUL [italics] to receive Catholic doctrine in its purity and integrity must always be respected” (Veritatis Splendor, 1993, n. 113).
I understand the need to evangelize the unevangelized African nations with the “Jubilee”. But can we address ALL apriorities? Mother Teresa of Calcutta would need an army to address the massive problem of systemic famine, where a malnourished baby dies every minute in sub-Saharan Africa.
Sr.Prof.Sory – “The assembly, she said, features stories and testimonies of missionary projects that have changed lives across Africa, with dedicated sessions for exchange and discussion, ensuring these perspectives directly influence the outcomes. Listening to all voices—especially young people, women, and the VULNERABLE — can enrich the entire Church’s understanding in addressing contemporary global challenges.”
We must include this major priority in the Jubilee agenda. You can’t convert someone who is dying. We are hypocrites if we don’t fight for the return of crucial USAID.
We must continue to strengthen our efforts to show the miracle of Jesus to the marvelous people of Africa. Pray God.
“We must continue to strengthen our efforts to show the miracle of Jesus to the marvelous people of Africa.”
The light of Christ waxes brilliant in Africa, while it it is waning in the West, as it evident in that the African Churches send more priests to the United States and western Europe than are sent in the other direction.