Church should teach unity in diversity, pope tells Cameroon's bishops

Published: 2006-03-20

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The church should teach unity in diversity and promote the well-being and dignity of all people, Pope Benedict XVI told a group of bishops from Cameroon. "The church is called to become more and more a home and school of communion," the pope said in his March 18 address to bishops on their "ad limina" visit to the Vatican, which heads of dioceses make every five years. The pope noted how the French- and English-speaking bishops of this ethnically mixed central African country work together in "a spirit of charity," offering "an eloquent sign of that unity which you experience." He said the personal witness of living and working together in harmony "serves to carry forward the evangelization of your people, marked by ethnic differences." The pope encouraged the bishops to continue demonstrating "how the Catholic Church takes to heart the promotion of the well-being and dignity of all the people of Cameroon, without exceptions, and the fulfillment of their profound aspirations to unity, peace, justice and fraternity."

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