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FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Father Opeka welcomed Pope Francis to Akamasoa which, he said, “was one a zone of exclusion, suffering violence and death” but over the past 30 years “Divine Providence has created an ‘oasis of hope’ in which children have regained their dignity, young people have returned to work and their parents have begun to work to prepare a future for their children.”
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
On Sunday, Sept. 8, his last day in Madagascar, Pope Francis celebrated Mass for approximately one million people. The overwhelming majority of those present at Mass are poor, but they love Francis because they see him as “a man of God” and “the pope of the poor,” one who is on their side in world where they have so little.
FaithNews
Cindy Wooden - Catholic News Service
Tens of thousands of people of all ages were gathered for the vigil on the wide-open diocesan field at Soamandrakizay Sept. 7; the older folks came because the pope was scheduled to celebrate Mass there the next morning.
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Pope Francis encouraged the bishops of Madagascar “to be sowers of hope and peace” in the midst of the contradictions that are so evident in this land.
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
On his first day in Madagascar, Pope Francis issued a strong call to the governmental authorities of this island of 27 million people to fight “with determination” against “endemic forms of corruption and speculation,” to “confront” the situations that “create conditions of inhumane poverty,” and to protect the environment against damage to nature and the people.
FaithVatican Dispatch
Gerard O’Connell
Before leaving the country on Sept. 6, Francis made a last, passionate appeal for reconciliation and the healing of wounds from the nation's long civil war.